


And With Her Guidance, We Became One

by IAmASinner



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bonding, Crush, Cuddling, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Lots of tears, Minor Character Death, Sharing a Bed, Slow Build, Thace is alive in this, no beta reader we die like men, non-binary Pidge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2018-07-24 01:43:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 44,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7488450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmASinner/pseuds/IAmASinner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Actually...Princess… Remember a long time ago when you said that I could come to you if I ever needed anything..?”, Pidge asks somewhat meekly. They fidget with their glasses out of habit.</p><p> Allura looks up from her tea, acknowledgement bright in her eyes. </p><p>“..Does that offer still stand?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“There. Finally.”

Pidge ceases clacking the keys of their laptop as the newly revamped diagnostics program installs to completion. The long stream of code scrolled up the screen continuously, finally giving the techie a peace of mind. They couldn’t tell how long they've been working on the thing, but they did know they were hungry, exhausted, and ready to pass out. For the third time that week.

Getting up off the metal floor of their hangar, they stretch until their spine pops and glances over to their Lion. “Good to go for now, Green! These newly advanced diagnostics should be able to see why we weren’t able to deploy your shields at full capacity in that last battle. Then we can fix you up!”

The mechanical beast purrs in response, otherwise still as a statue. Pidge lets out a giggle that was reserved only for when they were not in human company.

“In the meantime, I need to get some chow before my stomach eats itself. See you in a bit, bud”. they half mindedly wave at it as they exit the hangar. 

They weren't sure why, but interacting with the semi-sentinel ancient machine really helped keep them going. The constant battles and long stream of distress signals seemed endless and it was starting to wear on them. They were positive that they weren't the only one weighed by it but they keep this to themself. 

 

\-------------------------------

 

Sneaking out of kitchen with a half drunk juice box in hand, they were surprised to see the Princess pass by them wordlessly. She was staring down at her empty cup of tea forlornly, seemingly forgetting the world around her even if for a moment. Pidge couldn’t blame her, but the pit of their stomach urges them to say something.

"..Princess?", they venture.

"Huh? Oh!", Allura snaps out of her reverie to see the smallest paladin at the kitchen doorway peering at her with worry.

"Hello there, Pidge. I..didn't quite see you there", Allura confesses, putting the empty cup away to be washed for later. "Why are you up so late? We have training early tomorrow."

Pidge let out a tired snort. "I could ask you the same thing". They immediately regret the snarky tone as they saw the woman subtly flinch. 

"Er--I was just finishing up revamping the diagnostics for my Lion so that it'd do its thing overnight. It took longer than expected but its well underway now--If this new program is successful I plan to befit it for the other lions so that all of them are up to par and..and yeah." they provide, but realize they were starting to ramble. That seemed to do the trick though as they noticed the Alteans shoulders droop with ease.

"I see. You're such a hard worker, Pidge, and I don't know what we would have done without you and your technological expertise.”, she says fondly in a tired tone. But it quickly shifts to sternness before Pidge could revel in the compliment. 

“But you need to remember to take care of yourself as well so that you are always in top condition for battle. Who knows what Zarkon is up to at any given moment", Allura reminds, noting the abnormally dark bags under the others’ eyes and slight gauntness to their already small figure. Something seems off to Pidge, but they couldn’t put their finger on it. Her voice was much more quiet than normal. And did the air in the room suddenly get thicker?

But social finesse wasn't something they were known for and anxiety was already creeping up in their mind.

"I...Thank you, Princess, and I’ll be sure to keep myself better in check. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow then?", they squeak out hurriedly, unsure of what to say. They back out of the kitchen and scurry to their hangar before the Princess could respond.

\------------------------------------

Later, Pidge busies themself by continuously checking up on the running diagnostics in the comfort of their Lion in case any malfunctions arise. But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't drown out the saddened, distant tone of Alluras voice that plagued the back of their mind. 

This continues until they reluctantly pass out hours later, curled up in the chair of their cockpit dreaming of their family that was far, far away. 

\-----------------------------------

 

A rude awakening and an exhausting training session later, Pidge slumps against the hangars walls beside their Lion, sluggishly tapping away at their computer. The diagnostics did manage to pick up some problems overnight, but none relating to the shields. After a quick shower, an alien fruit snack, and a caffeinated drink in hand, Pidge was ready for round 2 to crack the case. 

Until Shiros deep voice crackled over the private intercom of their helmets, that is.

“Pidge, are you there?”

Inwardly cursing, they stretch their cranky body over to drag the discarded helmet closer to them.

“Yeah, what’s up?” They turn their attention back to the laptop, resuming typing.

“Are you alright over there? You didn’t seem to have your A-Game this morning during our routine formation exercise” Pidge could tell there was an unasked question lingering between them.

“Yes, I’m fine. Green still wasn’t able to deploy shields due to some mechanical malfunction. I’m on it.” 

“Pidge...”, a fatherly, questioning tone. Their face crumples up in a pout knowing exactly where this is going. “It’s not the Lions’ efficiency that I am worried about.”

A stubborn silence coming from one side of the intercom, an exasperated sigh on the other. 

“Let me guess, you aren’t getting enough sleep? Again?” 

More stubborn silence. A grunt. More typing sounds. 

“Pidge. Get to bed. Your -actual- bed. If I walk into your hangar in 15 minutes time and find you there, I will drag you to your room myself and lock you in there.” The tone suggests that it was not a threat but a promise. A promise he’s gone through plenty of times before with all the Paladins. Keith especially. 

“Come on, Shiro! I’m almost done with-”

“Do we have to have another little talk about your terrible habits, Pidge?”

“No, Shiro--I-”

“15 minutes, Pidge. Please go get some rest.” The intercom dies down leaving no room for argument. 

An angry, sarcastic mutter of ‘not my real dad’ and ‘stupid bodies needing sleep’ fell on absent ears as the green paladin shuts down their computer and drags themselves out of the hangar. They didn’t think they would be capable of even a cat nap at this point with so much going on in their head, but they’ll attempt it. For Shiro’s sake. 

\-----------------

Deciding that they could afford to grab a juice box within the time allotted, Pidge took a quick detour to the fridge. As they were in the middle of trying to poke the straw into the damn cardboard container on their way to their room, something caught the corner of their eye: Allura sitting by herself in the dining room with a cup of tea. She looks just as tired as last night. 

They weren’t sure what exactly compelled them to gravitate towards the lone Altean.

“Allura..? Hey”, Pidge says gently, weakly lifting a hand in greeting. They cautiously approach the head of the table where she sat. The princess snaps up to look at the human, eyebrows raised in surprise. She must have been deep in thought.

“Ah, Pidge? Hello there”, she responds, albeit somewhat distantly. “I was just having a quick cup of tea. Did you need anything?”

Pidge offers her a shrug. They needed many things, yes, but nothing she could help with.

“I was just passing through and saw you in here all by yourself. In fact, Coran is usually with you..”, they noted, looking around for the other Altean. Last night they understood why she was alone, but why now? Midday?

“Ah..He’s busy bonding with Lance at the moment. Knitting, I think it was called? I honestly sent him off to do it”, a gentle chuckle, “I’m positive you know how it is”

Pidge lets out a snort. They really did.

“Well..I’ll leave you be then. A certain someone pretty much grounded me from my hangar so that I could get some sleep...I’ll see you later, Allura”, they say, lifting their free hand again, in farewell. The princess mirrors the gesture. 

They started to turn away, sipping their juice when a flashback from last night flitted across their mind. Her saddened looks, her dull tone. Their nightmares, their insomnia. 

They pause, and turn back around. They weren’t sure what compelled them to do it, but they did.

“Actually...Princess… Remember a long time ago when you said that I could come to you if I ever needed anything..?”, Pidge asks somewhat meekly. They fidget with their glasses out of habit.

Allura looks up from her tea, acknowledgement bright in her eyes. 

“..Does that offer still stand?”

\-------

Pidge knew that they requested the conversation to be private, but they didn’t expect to be practically dragged to the Princess’ private quarters. They would have made a joke about how surprisingly humble the room was for a someone of a highly revered, royal family but it died in their throat before it got anywhere.The atmosphere almost felt intimate to the young paladin and there wasn’t much keeping them from caving into their anxiety and high tailing it out of there with a string of excuses in their wake. Confiding isn’t their thing. Socializing -in general- isn’t their thing.

After leaving their respective footwear at the entryway , Allura situates herself on the edge of her bed, patting the empty space beside her. Pidge obliges, albeit gingerly. They sat in silence for a moment, decidedly avoiding each other at the moment. The younger of the two becoming overly fascinated by the relatively barren room, and the older not wanting to push them.

But the princess had a gut feeling that the human wasn’t going to initiate the discussion so she went for it. 

“So….What did you..finally want to come talk to me about?”, she coaxes, leaning slightly back on an arm and tucking her feet under herself to get comfortable. Her gown flutters at the movement. 

Pidge stays put on the edge, with one leg bouncing on the floor.They would rather talk to Green or even a rock about this before admitting it to an equally sentient being but after a moment of clarity, they decide to just let it out.

“Lately I’ve been..feeling overwhelmed? Stressed?..Unfulfilled? I have been losing sleep lately and it’s not just from being so busy with my work”, they take a moment to fleetingly glance at the women next to them, who nods encouragingly. They look back down at their restless legs.

“It’s so hard to pinpoint what exactly I’m so down about. All of this,”, they motion vaguely to the castle, “happened all so fast, you know? One day I was on earth as a Garrison cadet trying to pinpoint where their missing astronaut father is, and the next I’m a member of the only force that stands a chance of saving the whole universe, far away from home.”

Some of the weight they didn’t realize they were carrying on their shoulders finally dissipates. They suddenly felt more their age.

“It’s just...a lot to take in. Even after months..? Years..?. I don’t know. And I’m sure that out of all of the Voltron team, you’d understand the most, what with you being in a coma for so long and wake up to….this”, another vague motion, “I can only imagine, and yet you took it like a champ. I’ll never understand how you did that.” Pidge finally looks up at the Altean, a glimmer of admiration shining through their otherwise anxious expression.

Allura wouldn’t admit it, but it took all of her willpower to keep the carefully built dam of emotion from exploding then and there. She felt all of the hurt, fear, and anxieties rush forth to the call of the gravity of their situation, but she wills herself to keep strong in front of the other. She has to, for both of their sakes. She didn’t want to scare Pidge away.

“I think it was mostly due to the shock from the dramatic shift of context and needing to pull myself together for the success of our mission that really helped me power through it all”, she says slowly. She has to chose her words carefully. 

Now it was her turn to look away.

“But it was a hard thing to swallow, I will admit that. But I realize that we all have our own battles to fight, and not just the ones in Voltron”, the princess offers, finding the soft silk curtains adorning her bed chambers to be particularly interesting all of a sudden. “And that is why I am thankful that you decided to take up what I offered you. We are all in this together, but I know how hard it can be to talk about it.”, she offers a warm smile to Pidge who in turn suddenly feels a little hot under the collar. They must be really tired.

But they couldn’t help but sense there is more to what the woman was telling them, but with a worried bite to their inner cheek, they didn’t comment on it. After a few heartbeats of silence to let this information stew, they felt it was their turn to continue.

“You mentioned before that one of the things we have in common was having our fathers taken from us”, they earn a nod, “I remember when the AI of your father became corrupt and had to be deleted. I know that it wasn’t actually your father, but I can’t help but feel a pang of envy towards you.”

This surprises the princess, eyebrows knitting together. “How so?”

“Well…”, Pidge stares hard at the floor below them, “I don’t know if my father is even still alive out there. Sometimes I’ve even toyed with the idea of making a version of him like that too”, they confess, “Something like that would be well within the realm of my capabilities, of course, but one of the things holding me back is that it the source of its AI would strictly be from my own memories and point of view of him. But if I went ahead and created one, at least I could trick myself into thinking I could say goodbye to him one last time and it wouldn’t just be a dream. I wouldn’t have to keep myself busy and staving off sleep to avoid haunting dreams of the ‘could have beens’”

Pidge only then realized that tears were starting to streak down their cheeks when they felt a kind hand seek theirs on the bed, encompassing it warmly. They let out a quiet gasp at the unexpected contact. They look down at the connection with blurry eyes before meeting the others’.

“Oh Pidge...While I admit that having that hologram did help give me answers to the many questions I had in the very beginning...I knew that deep down it could never replace who my father really was. It was just a shell of him. The only things that allow him to live on are my memories of him, and his mission.”, while she felt sadness in her heart talking about the late king, she couldn’t help but feel a fondness intermingle as well. 

“And while I understand your intentions, I do not recommend making a hologram of your loved one. It was worse seeing him go the second time, and fooling yourself only begs for complications...”, she gives the hand under hers a squeeze, hoping her message was getting across. She lifts her other hand to kindly brush away a few tears still clinging to the others’ pale face. Pidge allows it.

They stave off a hiccup, before answering. “It’s just..I really wish I could have said more to him the last time I saw my dad. I wish I could turn back time to tell him that I loved him at least one more time”, their voice starts to crack. “Who knows where he is now, assuming he’s still alive? I’d give anything to see him again, Allura”, they hang their head in defeat. “..Anything.”

Now it was the older womans’ turn to start tearing up. Allura tries to focus so much on not falling apart in front of the other, but what Pidge said struck a cord deep inside, one that wasn’t nearly as guarded as the others. It takes a lot of willpower to not think of the ‘could have beens’ but sometimes they were so enticing to think about. They staved the pain away, even if for a moment. A psychological, morphine rush that only lasted as long as the thought itself before you were forced back into reality.

“Oh, Pidge..”, voice low and saddened. Equally defeated, but different context. The tone made them look up directly at the princess, and regret immediately spreads across their features. They lean in slightly and hold up their free hand as if itchin to reach out to the woman in front of them.

“Allura, I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry! I shouldn’t have rambled so much, I’m sorry-” 

The Altean holds up a finger to their lips, gently shushing them. Pidge is taken back by the contact, but does as commanded. The taller woman waits until she knows the other calmed down before removing it.

“No Pidge, it’s fine. I do wish that I could turn back time as well, since nothing could ever replace the real thing, but I was lucky enough to have a fraction of him before time ran out.”, she dabs a corner of her eye with a knuckle, delicately sniffles, “It was the best of the situation even if it didn’t last.”, and with a sudden burst of inspiration, levity became evident in her voice, eyes shining. 

“But Pidge, your father still has a chance of being alive out there. We haven’t even seen a fraction of what the universe has to offer yet. Wouldn’t you rather focus your faith on finding the real one, and not settle for an artificial fraction of him? He’s probably out there, alive and well, waiting to see you again!”

Pidge didn’t know how to respond for a moment. Rationally speaking, they should have been happy to hear that rather optimistic viewpoint, but exhaustion won out. They didn’t have the energy to put up a front.

“Faith is intangible, Allura.”, the princess’ face falters, “Especially after years of chasing so many false leads that usually end up as a trap that almost decimates the team. And yet almost every night I dream about him and my family, and the countless could-have-beens”, tears now flow freely down their cheeks, their voice choking.

“And you heard what Shiro has said before. The last time he saw my father in the flesh he was sent to a Galran labour camp. The life expectancy of the average slave there is only a couple years. For a healthy, young person!”, they throw up their free hand to accentuate their exasperation. A few more tears plod onto their lap. “I don’t even think my brother would survive that long..especially with his injury and all..”, they trail off into sobs that wrack their whole body.

Allura was surprised by Pidges reply. Normally they’re much more happy-go-lucky and determined, but the princess knew that even the strongest of fortitudes could crumble. At this very moment, she knew that her words won’t help the person sitting next to her.

So instead, she pulls the small paladin to her in a tight embrace. 

They yelp at the sudden movement, but Pidge didn’t move out of the hold. Instead, they timidly snake their arms up and around her neck, bringing them even closer. They twist their body so that they align much more comfortably and end up being practically in Alluras lap; neither of them could bring themselves to care. Muscles became more relaxed the longer they held each other.

Silently gracious that her gesture was accepted, Allura deep down felt that this wasn’t just for Pidge. She felt her own mind fuzz over with ease, enjoying this tender moment between them even if the context was a heavy one. She would never admit it out loud, but she has been craving for physical affection ever since she woke up from the stasis capsule. If the almost desperate acceptance was any indication to go by, she had a feeling Pidge was the same way.

Taking all that she could get, Allura gently travels one hand up Pidges body to weave into the baby hairs on the back of their neck while the other soothes down their back, using their bony spine as a guide. She inwardly winced at the implications, but her ministrations are rewarded with the sobs quieting down slightly and a squeeze around her shoulders. They’ll take about that issue later.

In the meantime, the two of them stayed like that in each other's arms, until the smaller one spoke up again.

“Allura...Really. How do you do it?” A question that was already asked, but unsatisfied. 

“Hmm?”, a half distracted hum as the fine hairs in the back of their neck is affectionately twiddled. Pidge pleasantly shudders at this. 

“How do you remain so….strong?”

“I…” Allura pauses. She had a feeling that the other sensed a deeper meaning to her earlier words and wanted in. She really didn’t want to get into this right now, but she didn’t want the young paladin to walk away wonderin. Maybe it’s about time she actually talked about this to something other than her mice anyway. She affords herself this.

“I know you won’t like the answer, but it is my hope. My hope keeps me strong”, she answers honestly, biting her lip as she continues to weave her slender fingers through the thick hair. 

She feels their body freeze up.

“Hope about what?”, they croak, leaning back out of her hold enough to look at her. Their eyebrows pinned together with inquisition. Allura couldn’t make herself look away, despite herself.

“That someday all of the pain we’ve all been through will be worth it when the whole universe is free from the grasp of the Galran Empire. That being free is the universal state of being all across the galaxies.”, she offers honestly with a cracking voice. She continues, the words flowing out of her mouth at this point.

“The genocide of my people, the destruction of my planet, the death of my family...someday the pain will wash away. And it’s thanks to you and the other paladins for making that a possibility. You’re all so brave for keeping to it, and not backing down. Especially you, Pidge”, at this point Allura could feel a few tears run down her own face again but still smiles warmly down at her guest.

“As the commander of the Castle of Lions, I must be a pillar of strength for all of you. What kind of leader would I be if I didn’t have hope?”

The sliver of gravity that the princess has been through finally tugged Pidge back to reality. The woman before her was still able to smile despite all of the things she was raked through and forced to shoulder and in silence. Pidge knew that if they were in Alluras place they’d break like glass. They couldn’t even handle the possibility of just their father being deceased much less everything that the princess listed. How many times has Allura cried herself to sleep in this very bed? They know they would. Have.

Guilt crept up on them like vines, enstrangling every inch of skin it came in contact with. When it reaches their rib cage and grabs at their heart, panic overtook them, kicking out every shred of logic left.

They shove away from the princess, breaking the embrace. “I’m so sorry, Allura”, Pidge bites out to the baffled Altean, using the heel of their palm to wipe away the globes of renewed tears. “I don’t have it nearly as bad as you and yet here I am whining about my piddily ass problems,”, regret coats their voice like venom “I knew I should have gone to Shiro about this--”

They force themselves up off the bed and turn to leave the room but a surprisingly strong hand grasps their thin wrist in time. The human shamefully refuses to look back as the Altean spoke, still poised to walk away. Tears continue to slip down their cheek and onto the floor below.

 

“Pidge...Please. Wait. You’re in pain, and have been through a lot yourself”, she saw them stiffen, but she soldiers on. “As I said before, we are all fighting our own battles and I do not consider your problems to be “piddly’.But if you let me, I can help you, and perhaps, you can help me too...Please”, the last word spills out like a desperate whisper and strikes a chord in Pidges heart. 

Of all the people they didn’t want to hurt, it was Allura. The princess was much more wounded and kept away than they could ever fathom, and yet here she was begging to help them with what they felt were comparatively trivial problems. The woman was immeasurably selfless and brave, and every fiber of their being wants to help her. Needs to. They owe her.

“What could I possibly do to help you?”

A pregnant pause. 

“Please come back to me..and I will show you.” An almost uncertain, breathy whisper.

Perplexed, Pidge allows themselves to be gently guided back by their wrist until they were standing in front of the Altean. They took note that even with Allura sitting on the edge of her bed, she was still taller than them, much to their chagrin. 

The princess slowly scoots herself back higher on the bed, Pidges wrist still in hand. Anxiety was starting to edge onto them again but curiosity won them over as they were coaxed onto the infinitely comfortable bedding. Wondering where the hell this was going, they allow themselves to be lead deeper onto the bed until both of their bodies were on top of it, sitting on their knees, facing each other. 

This situation was feeling more and more surreal to Pidge, but they knew their commander wouldn’t try anything weird. Even if she is Altean.

“Pidge, do you trust me?”, Allura asks gently. Her face reflects the worry she felt inside.

“Of course I do! Why wouldn’t I?”, comes the immediate answer, and relief washes over her features. She lets out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.

“It’s just...I want to try something with you that will benefit us both, I think”, she wasn’t sure how to explain it, but really hopes she doesn’t scare the already socially fidgety paladin away. “It is a sacred custom of my race that is normally reserved for only the most precious people in your life”, she confesses as memories of her father flash across her mind, “and I would like to share that bond with you..If that is okay?” With all that they've been through, Allura likes to think all of her paladins were precious to her. How could she not? But even she admits that her love has been distant at best and is surprising even herself with the offer. 

As for Pidge, it is a lot to take in. They went from barely knowing the princess--their commander--to being confided and trusted by her to the point of being considered ‘precious’ enough for something she obviously fiercely guards internally. But they didn’t want to deny the princess anything despite being borderline uncomfortable. But they chalk it up to just not being used to these kinds of situations and nothing more. They knew Allura meant well. She always does. 

“Okay”, they breath, consenting. 

“Good..Thank you. I am so happy to hear it. Please lay down here, facing away from me”, she quietly instructs, referring to the spot of the bed next to her.

Pidge does what they are told and cuddle their head into one of the fluffiest pillows they ever felt to ease the anxiety welling up in the pit of their stomach. They lay as still as they can as they feel Allura shift behind them and will themselves to relax when they feel the front of the very warm,very feminine body press up against their back, an arm encircling their waist to tug them even closer. Her head rests above theirs, her breathing seeming almost as nervous as theirs. 

“Are you comfortable? Is this okay?”, she whispers gingerly, worry evident in her shaky voice. 

Pidge doesn’t trust their voice in fear it would give the wrong impression and simply nods in encouragement. 

What happens next was hard to describe for Pidge. It felt as if they were being lifted from the bed in a spiritual sense, and yet their bodies are still firmly in place. Serenity drifts down onto them like a blanket, and they finally felt their muscles start to relax. They felt has if Allura was them, and they were Allura, reminiscent of the mind melding training Coran put them through in the very beginning. But this time, Pidge didn’t mind.

Allura, on the other hand, was focusing on the task at hand. She had only done this with one other person, and even then she never initiated it. But this felt much different. The love for her father was much different than her how she felt for Pidge. In fact, she wasn’t even sure how she felt for the person in her arms anymore especially with what unfolded today, but the more she coaxes the timid aura out of Pidge, the stronger the mysterious feelings became.

Their aura was curious, intellectual, anxious, and had a healthy dollop of shyness; just as Allura would expect someone like Pidge to have. She brings out her own passionate aura to greet it, and wasn't surprised to feel the others’ cautiously meld with hers. But once the both of them became familiar, they mix together almost perfectly, and on their first try no less.

She concentrates on the pushes and pulls of the combined spiritual bodies around them, locating the knots and holes present. Her own aura works away diligently, fumbling about with its inexperience but made up for it with care.

Meanwhile, a cloud of relief overcome the two, their physical bodies responding to the bond. The aches and pains either of them didn’t realize they had melt away. Muscles letting go of all their tension, relaxing against each other as their auras swirl around more easily. Breathing became steady.

Pidge was too at peace to question exactly what was happening and how, but they couldn’t make themselves care. They even drift one of their hands down to affectionately squeeze the arm that was secured around their waist. In kind, the princess instinctively curls her body more around the small paladin, as if protectively, making them closer than before. She nuzzles her cheek into the light brunette hair tickling her face, not even realizing what she was doing. 

Thankfully Pidge didn’t even seem to mind, and even let out a restful sigh in answer. 

“Allura?”, a sleepy, almost child-like tone rung into the air.

“Yes, Pidge?”, an almost equally drowsy answer.

“Thank you. For all of this.”

The Alteans lips curve into a smile as she gives their lean waist a squeeze.

“Thank you, as well.” 

They were like this for a while, but it didn’t take long for sleep to finally claim Pidge. This allows their guard down and unwittingly makes the aura weaving even easier for the Altean. The human was much more exhausted than she realized but wasn’t terribly surprised. The princess decidedly uses the opportunity to sift through the rest of their aura to mend all that she could, while she could. She avoids anything that she felt may have been too private.

A lot more stubborn knots became present in the bond, which worries her. Some anxiety based, others purely of sorrow and regret. A few of confusion, one of which that seemed to be growing that her aura seems particularly curious about. But why? She forces it to leave it be. It’s not her place.

She had a feeling she knew the context of only a few of the knots, but she knew that in due time Pidge will let her know what was up, especially if they continued to do this.

This.

Allura couldn’t help but feel that their relationship took quite a few, unexpected steps forward, and hopes that the feeling is mutual. She never confided into anyone like this before, and so quickly. And yet it felt so natural. She never thought she’d bond auras with anyone else than her father, and yet here she was.

A sudden, strong wave of unforeseen affection wafts into the princess, making her panic for a split second but becomes relieved when she remembered that the paladin was fast asleep; she was secretly glad that Pidge wasn’t conscious enough to decipher it through their connection and didn’t want to give off the wrong impression. 

Suddenly self conscious of her unchecked emotions, she regretfully weans her aura away until they drifted apart and back into their respective bodies. Exhaustion seeps back into her muscles fifth fold, almost catching her off guard, but welcomes the embrace.

Letting out a sigh, Allura tucks Pidges head under her chin and allows sleep to overcome her too.

\--------------------------------

Pidge wakes up after what felt like hours, and the first thing they noticed was a very warm body pressing up against them. Panic flashes across their mind until they remember what had transpired earlier. 

Now, a beautiful woman was sleepily cuddling them in her bed after some intimate spiritual bonding. And apparently at some point Pidge had turned around in the embrace because Alluras face snuggled into their chest, looking more relaxed than they had ever seen her. Both of her arms were around their waist, securing them close to her. Their legs were somewhat entwined.

A blush creeps across their cheeks and down their neck like a wildfire. Did the room suddenly get hot all of a sudden? Then the thoughts of their Lion and Shiro came to mind.

SHIT.

Who knows what time it is now, but they know they should to get back to the hangar and adjust the diagnostics as soon as possible. Or at least make sure Shiro wasn’t stomping around the castle, looking for them, when he sees that they weren’t in their bed as commanded. They really weren’t in the mood to be lectured, restful sleep be damned. They wasted enough time slacking off as is, and they were positive that they were away from their work long enough, even by Shiros’ standards. 

Determined, they carefully try to peel the arms from around their waist trying not to wake the Altean pressed against them. But as soon as they made any progress, the arms only wound tighter, securing them in place. Pidge huffs. They didn’t want to do this, but.

“Um..Allura? Hello?”, they say gingerly, rocking her shoulders to rouse her. It took a few tries, but soon enough the princess looks up from her comfy ‘pillow’ to blearily look up at them. 

“Hey!..Could you, maybe, um..?”, they somewhat ask fighting down the blush that insisted on painting their face, motioning to the arms around them. An owlish blink and a few second later, realization overcomes the womans’ eyes and she instantly tears herself away from Pidge as if she was burned, sputtering out apologies. A blush of equal ferocity paints her darkened skin and Pidge couldn’t help but think it looks good on her, but immediately stomps down on the thought as soon as it surfaced. 

“My deepest sincerest apologies, Pidge. I honestly don’t know what came of me”, the princess says, rubbing her forearm nervously. But then disappointment came to her when she realized that despite the couple of hours they spent sleeping together, the bags under Pidges eyes were dark as ever. Worry sets in. 

“It’s fine, Princess, I understand. I just need to get back to work now. Or find Shiro to make sure he doesn’t kill me. Whichever comes first”, they say as they lift themselves up from the bed to leave. A hand on their shoulder stops them. 

They look back at the princess questioningly, especially when the other hand reaches up and cups their cheek, the fingers extending almost to their neck.

“Pidge”, the Altean says in an apologetic tone. “Please forgive me, but you need this. You really do.”

Confused, honeyed eyes meet saddened lilac ones, and before they knew it, the paladin saw a small flash of blue light in the corner of their eye where the palm rested. Something warm absorbs into their temple and their consciousness immediately starts to slip away. 

The last thing they saw was Alluras worried smile.


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing that Pidge notices when they woke up was the familiarity of their room. Blinking in confusion they reach over to the corner of their bed out of habit to retrieve their glasses. 

They honestly didn’t expect to be waking up here. Flashes of what transpired last night flit across their mind. Did that really happen? Or was it a well fabricated dream? The last thing they remember was Allura looking down at them.

And the sense of being close to someone else, both spiritually and physically, still lingers on them like static. Normally they would shy away from such opportunities, but they felt that Allura is different somehow. It’s almost as if the deepest confines of their consciousness knew something the rest didn’t.

A sense of surreality washes over them but they shake it off. Maybe they’ll go ask Allura about it later. Or maybe not. But they couldn’t deny that they felt the most relaxed that they’ve ever been, especially around the neck from slumping over their computer all the time. They roll an arm around in its socket to test for pain. None. How peculiar. 

Deciding to shrug it off for now, since way weirder things have happened, they head down to the kitchen for a bite to eat. They didn’t expect Hunk to be there.

“Whatcha up to, Hunk?”, they ask as they enter the kitchen, “Usually you’re doing target practice in the range with your banyard during this time of the day.”

"Hey Pidge!”, Hunk greets enthusiastically. He flips something in the pan he is cooking with. “I just got off face-time with Shay.”, he says, jerking his head towards the counter that had his homemade laptop on top of. Pidge remembers building it together many months back.

“It’s dusk where she is now. It’s when the Belameras’ biological energy interferes with our shared signal the least”, he answers an unasked question, “then I got hungry, and voila! Yhola tuber pancakes with brumble tree sap syrup! Want some?”, he asks, dumping some sort of spice into the pan and flipping the contents again.

“That depends, are they from the greenhouse?”, they ask skeptically. The smell was inviting at least, but nothing will ever heal them from the Great Banana disaster. 

“Nah, this is from our last rescue mission. I already made a batch of this though so you’ll live, probably”, Hunk says. ”Plus it’s got CINNAMON”

“Yeah sure, couldn’t hurt..I hope”, the shorter one says, only half jokingly. 

Pidge sets up the table as Hunk finishes up the rest of the dish and making sure there was enough for the two of them, plus some.

“So--”, starts Hunk as he stuffs pancake into his mouth after slathering it with a ludicrous amount of alien sugar tree sap. Pidge cringes at that. “Ever find out what’s wrong with the green lion?”, he asks, loosely pointing his fork at his friend. Pidge nibbles their own stack, deciding that it tastes much grainier than necessary. Damn, maybe Hunk was onto something afterall. They proceed to drown their pancakes in syrup.

“No, still working on it. I have to overhaul the coding of the diagnostics program again because it still doesn’t recognize that the undeployable shields are an issue. I might actually require your help later on if you’re up to it, for a second opinion.”

“Bummer dude, but yeah sure! Two minds are better than one, or whatever!”, he says, continuing to stuff his face almost nonstop.

The two continue to chat about anything and everything, until Lance came sauntering in and excitedly partook in the tuber pancakes with them. He promptly complains that the syrup was too sweet and was going to get diabetes from it, which lead to the heated discussion as to whether or not the medical statis capsules could cure diabetes, and if Alteans can even develop the disease.

By the time Pidge places their plate into the washer and makes themselves a cup of “coffee”, Lance was guzzling down the rest of the pitcher of syrup as Hunk cheers him on, banging on the table while chanting “CHUG! CHUG CHUG!”

Rolling their eyes, they taste test the brewed alien beans. They conclude that if they end up getting a cardiac arrest at least they could say that the coffee tasted good. On their way out they step over a frothing Lance on the floor, wave at a tear jerkingly laughing Hunk, and continue on their way to their hangar in peace. 

Until they bump into Shiro.

They tense up at the sight of him and already knew it was too late to slip into stealth mode when their eyes made contact. Their mouth opens before their brain realizes it.

“Oh, Shiro--Hey uh, about last night--”

Shiro puts up a hand with a soft smile, effectively stopping them in their vocal tracks.

“No worries, Pidge, you’re off the hook...For now”, he says, while raising an eyebrow. A non-verbal indication that his earlier promise still stands. “Allura filled me in.”

Pidge freezes. “Allura?”

“She told me that she personally escorted you back to your bed last night, or rather, well into this morning. Apparently you two were talking it out with each other.”

Pidge fights down an unwarranted blush. So it wasn’t their imagination, after all.

“Oh yeah, about that..”, they fidget, looking down at their steaming cup of counterfeit coffee. They made no indication that they were going to continue that line of thought however, as it already seemed to have derailed. But a knowing smile graces Shiros’ features anyway. 

“I am glad that you two are finally getting closer. Knowing each other and bonding is essential to our mission.” The thought about Yelmors and ears flits across the back of Pidges’ mind. 

“I suppose, yeah.” They didn’t know what to say. Instead,Shiro lifts his human hand to affectionately ruffle through their hair until they half-heartedly complain and swat at the offending appendage, laughing.

“Good luck with fixing up Green Lion, Pidge. Just don’t make me feel the need to drag you away from it, okay?”, he says warmly. “I’ll be at the helm today to decode distress signals if you need anything.”

“Alright, awesome..Thanks”, they let out a nervous chuckle as they depart and continue on their way to their hangar. They let out a breath of relief and a fist pump when they were sure Shiro was out of earshot. No lectures for them today!

\--------------------------------

Allura felt equally rested when she woke up. She never thought about how beneficial aura weaving was, and honestly almost forgot about the practice entirely. If it weren’t for the many nights her father had used that method to calm her to sleep in her younger years after her mothers’ death, she would have never committed it to muscle memory.

She then blushes at the thought of sharing a bed with another; she wouldn’t have even allowed contact like that back on Altea. But she tries not to dwell on it farther. She did it to help Pidge, and maybe herself. There was no other motive.

And yet she couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt in the pit of her stomach. Pidge consented to it, yes, but it was a rather intimate process that asked a lot of the unknowing human. They did seem to enjoy it..

Despite craving to do it again and knowing how compatible their auras were, Allura knows she will have to apologize for that later when she has the chance.

But in the meantime, she gets up to dress into her appropriate work attire. Her secondary duty has been translating Galran scriptures and intel since a few years ago thanks to Pidges technology, and her ancient expertise. As the commander of the Castle of Lions, it was fitting that she took on this duty, and would then in turn brief her paladins when she is able to piece evidence together enough to warrant exerting their resources for their next mission. 

But with each terrifying script of data that passes her by, the more worried she becomes of her paladins and the potential danger they could get into. She isn’t sure if it is her commander side talking, or her motherly instincts kicking in, but she filters what she can before briefing them of her daily findings. They don’t need to know everything she knows.

They don’t need to know exactly how the Galran publically execute anyone that stands up against them, and jovially drag their battered corpse, forcing the public to watch. They don’t need to know the immoral experiments they force poor souls into nor how they force two incompatible beings to breed against their will. They don’t need to know the details that helped create the Galran reputation the way it is. They don’t need that sort of intimacy with it, and her heart cries for every soul done wrong by those wretched warmongers. 

Coran and herself have witnessed a few of these accounts on their own people before they were eradicated. This is something that she wishes everyday that she could unlearn, and yet it burns in the back of her mind like a brand. The paladins don’t need something like this weighing on them, they have enough on their plates as is.

They just need to know enough intel to complete the mission. Everything else is her burden to bare, and hers alone. They will live as blissfully unaware as possible, if she can help it.

\--------------------------------

 

Hours later Pidge finds themself with a hankering for fruit, so they head down to the greenhouse wing; an addition that was installed into the castle years ago by Hunks insistent request. He was sick of having to eat food goo as preserves when they haven’t landed on a carbon based planet in a while. That and something about the supposed perils of scurvy. Needless to say, the vote to build one was unanimous. Now it was full of alien vegetation they’ve collected over time, and even some docile fauna to help out with the pollinating.

They managed to dedicate a whole corner of the greenhouse to a flower called Juniper Blossom, which is the princess’ favorite. They surprised her a couple of birthdays ago with it. It took a lot of sweat, blood, and tears to renew the long extinct flower, but the payoff was more than worth it. If it wasn’t for the convenient time capsule that was buried deep within the castle vaults, it would have never been possible.

As Pidge made a bee-line for one of their favorite fruit trees, they notice Allura the corner of their eye, accompanied by her mice. She was amongst her potted Juniper flowers, looking contemplatively at the plucked one in her hand. Normally she only does this when something in particular is worrying her.

Not wanting to bother her, Pidge goes ahead and takes some of the ripe produce before turning around to head back to their hangar. They didn’t get far when they realize that one of the mice is in their path, waving their chubby little arms frantically.

Pidge bends down carefully with a armful of fruit to reduce their imposing size. “What is it, little buddy? Is something wrong?.”

The mouse nods and proceeds to do impromptu charades while pointing at the princess. Pidge got the message, but reluctantly so. Steeling themselves, they pad over to the small Juniper garden with the mouse at their heels. 

Allura looks up at the sound of footsteps.

“Oh, Pidge! I didn’t expect you to approach me so soon, with what..Happened.” They saw a flash of guilt on her features before she looks down at her flowers. This perplexes them.

“Why wouldn’t I?”, they ask quietly. The princess looks back up, surprised.

“Because..”, she chews her lips for a second, her expression apologetic and almost sorrowful. “I knocked you out so that you could sleep. You just looked so tired, Pidge, and I knew you’d only keep pushing yourself--”

Pidge puts up a free hand defensively, silencing her before she could ramble. 

“Whoa, whoa, it’s okay Allura. Just..Give me a warning next time, okay?”, they ask with a crooked smile, fidgetting their glasses. Allura lets out a breath of relief, a smile on her lips.

“Yes, of course.”

“Besides”, they say rather peppily, “That was the most restful sleep I’ve ever had, and one I obviously needed. Good call. I should be thanking you, really”

“I'm relieved to hear that, it was calming for me as well”, the princess openly admits. Pidge hums, happy that the princess benefitted as well, but provided no further response. Both watch a colorful butterfly-like lizard float around between them, undoubtedly on a mission to pollinate everything in sight.

The two fall into an odd silence, both seem to want to simultaneously address, and ignore the metaphorical elephant in the room. The princess goes for it, as per her nature.

“Pidge..About last time”, they perk up at her voice, “If you ever need to…”, she pauses, not sure how to word it, but hopes the context works in her favor, “..Just approach me, okay?”

The short human looks at the fruit in their arms for a moment, pensively. 

“You know, I was actually wondering if maybe..We could talk again? Later tonight, maybe?”, they ask, meekness edging into their voice at the end.

The princess stares at them for a moment, before a grateful smile spreads across her face.

“I would love that.”

 

\--------------------------------

Later that night Pidge finds themself in front of the princess’ room. It felt much different than literally being dragged through it and nothing was stopping them from backing out now. But they didn’t want to disappoint the princess, and there were a few very important questions that they needed an answer to.

Breathing in a deep breath, they give the metal door a couple knocks. 

“Come in!”, they hear from the other side of the sliding metal. It opens up and they step inside before any second thoughts crawl up on them. They leave their footwear at the entrance.

“I’m glad you came after all, Pidge!”, says Allura in her pajamas, brushing out her hair at her vanity. A few more swipes and she puts away her delicate implements. The smaller one couldn’t help but take note of how beautiful and shiny her hair was. Their fingers twitch, itching to run through those snowy tresses. 

The tall woman stands up and walks over to her bed, patting the spot next to her invitingly. Just like time last. Thoughts reel through their mind, but force their body to step forward and sit down. 

“What would you like to talk about?”, Allura asks patiently.

“Why do you keep to yourself like you do?”, they blurt out. Pidge inwardly scolds themselves as soon as the words leave their mouth. 

_Way to go._

But they’re already waist deep in this, matter of wise keep going. The princess is unsurprisingly taken back by this.

“I don’t--”

Pidge cuts her off, not having any of it. “I felt it last night, Allura. You’re in pain too!”, they inject almost desperately. 

This catches her off guard, and suddenly starts to second guess everything that happened between them in the last 24 hours. So Pidge was capable of actually deciphering her aura? How much have they figured out from a single session?

“I--I’m the commander. I have to keep strong for all of you, and if that means I keep away my pain, then so be it. You don’t deserve to carry my burden.”, she confesses, holding a hand to her chest to ground herself.

Pidges’ eyebrows knit together in worry and they shift themselves so that they are facing the woman much more directly. They look her in the eyes. 

“If there was anything that the Garrison taught me about leadership those years ago, it’s that the strength of the team belies in the trust of one another, including yourself”

Great, now they’re starting to talk like Shiro. They inwardly scoff at this. 

“Let your worries be our worries, Allura. We’re in this together. As you said before, we’re all fighting a battle, aren’t we? If you believe that others should be comfortable enough with you to confide in, shouldn’t the same go for you? Don’t you think you deserve that kind of mutual respect?”

The princess doesn’t say anything. She bites her lip and looks away, embarrassed yet thoughtful. Pidge cringes. They’re not very good at this. Was that too blunt? Shit.

Listening to their instincts, they slide a warm hand on top of a cooler one, and squeezes it in a way that they thought would be comforting. They run their thumb nervously over the slender knuckles as they continue to talk. 

“I can tell you’ve been through a lot, Allura, and I know there’s a time and place for everything, but I hope you know that if you ever decide to talk about it or confide in me, I will not take it for granted.”

They offer a shaky smile, slightly pink tinted cheeks, and another hand squeeze. 

They are rewarded with being pulling into a hug, of which they instantly respond to. They heard a few sobs coming from the body pressed into theirs, and instinctively start to run their hands along her back like she had done to them last night. They could feel their own heart flutter like a caged bird and begin to worry if she could feel the thing thumping against her.

“You’re absolutely wonderful to me, Pidge, thank you”, Allura sobs into their thick hair. 

“The feeling is mutual”, Pidge whispers back, taking the opportunity to comfortably sift their deft fingers through the layers of white locks, reveling in the silky feel. They continue like this for a while.

\-----  
After what felt like forever, they finally break apart, Allura wiping away the last remnant of tears from her bright eyes. “Thank you...I really needed that.”

“I’m glad to help”, they reply with a genuine smile. But then a sober expression overtook their facial features. They look at the bed sheets, fidgetting. They were minute movements, but the princess knew the human well enough to sense it.

“Is something the matter?”, she asks, her voice barely above a whisper. They pause, but let it out.

“Allura, I want to help you in any way I can, so I wanted to ask if-”, they fiddle with a few threads in the blankets, gathering themselves. They look Allura solid in the eye, “-if, you wouldn’t mind I tried what you did last night? If that is possible? Maybe even teach me?...Please?”, they ask meekly, not sure how to word themself and hope their point was getting across. They also didn’t want to scare Allura but it’s been on their mind since that morning.

The Altean was absolutely overwhelmed at the offer. Pidge wanted to help her that way? No one has ever extended such an offer to her before. Something in her heart swells up and demands her to say yes, even if such a thing wasn’t possible for a human. But she didn’t care at this point. She wanted to try. And from the bottom of her heart she says, “I would love to Pidge. Thank you.”

The small human perks up, a genuine smile splitting across their pale face, eyes shining with purpose. The princess crawls farther up her bed like last night, beckoning Pidge closer. They obey. But when she lays down on her side facing them, they become confused. 

“Wait, aren’t we supposed to be facing the say way?”, they ask, nuzzling the side of their face deeper into the fluffy pillows.

“It’s easier this way for you”, Allura offers honestly, “You’ll see.”

She shifts herself so that she is slightly curled, and Pidge follows suit until their knees touch. Her bottom hand twines with Pidges’ at the fingers, and her top hand rests on their waist. They mimic her pose. 

Somehow this felt more intimate than being spooned, to Pidge, and they couldn’t put their finger as to why. When the Altean closes her eyes and starts to breathe slower, they follow her example, relaxing their body. Before long they felt the otherwordly sensation of their aura leaving them after being coaxed out by Alluras again.

Pidge couldn’t resist cracking out an eye for a peek, and was at awe to witness the facial markings of the woman laying next to them gently glow. Beautiful. 

“Now then”, Allura gently whispers, Pidge snaps their eye shut, “do you feeling anything?”

They concentrate, but it is hard to tell, and even harder to describe.

“I think I do?”, they answer, hesitantly. 

“I didn’t tell you this last night since I didn’t feel that it was a priority, but what we are doing is called ‘aura bonding’, and ‘aura weaving’ respectively. Your aura is a spiritual reflection of yourself. Can you feel mine mingling with yours?”

They could feel a presence other than their own, but it felt blurry and indescribable at the moment. This felt much different than last night.

“I’m not sure, but I think I do? I felt it much stronger yesterday.”

Allura could feel confusion start to trickle from the other side and she almost chuckles. To her, the aura were as clear as day. “Here, let’s have our aura do the talking.”, she suggests. 

Pidge could feel the womans aura coax theirs into becoming one. They felt the familiar feeling of serenity upon them once again. Under their palm, they could feel the princess’ body relax too. A part of them becomes deeply relieved at this. 

Without vocal instruction, the paladins’ aura laves over Alluras, looking for any knots that needed attention. It was no where near clarity, but with the troubled mind of the Altean, you didn’t need it to be. Their aura caught on well enough to keep trying anyway.

As they fussed over a multitude of knots they didn’t notice from the last coupling, Allura could feel a strong sense of sympathy and worry sail over from Pidge, almost clogging the connection. 

Since they wanted to learn how to do this, the taller of the two allows her aura to guide Pidges’ through the knots, albeit extremely clumsily. It was to a degree that was well beyond just mere inexperience. It was as if it was blind, or guarded. 

“Pidge, please relax”, the Altean murmurs, “This isn’t something you can consciously make it do right now, it takes a specific kind of focus.”

They let go. It was easier for the aura to do its thing, but it was understandably still not up to par like Alluras. That and it was obvious that Pidge was already at their limit, exhaustion searing into their edges from trying so hard. Their aura starts to cease, its movements sluggish and unfulfilled. 

Allura wasn’t surprised by this, but she was very impressed that Pidge was even capable at all. Humans were clearly not built to carry out a sacred Altean ability like this with in any sort of clarity, but with Pidges persistence, there was potential.

She then feels the body under her hand tense up, and a strong wave of self-deprecation, failure, and uncertainty seeps into their bond like tar. Thick, and unyielding. This strongly suggests that Pidge is inwardly beating themself over this, and the Altean was going to put a stop to it. 

Allura squeezes Pidge hand with her own, and uses the other to slide up their waist and to their shoulder to give it a squeeze. 

“Pidge, please be patient with yourself. You’re human and this sort of thing take time, even for us Alteans”, she offers sincerely, “I’m surprised you can even do any of this at all!”

They open their shameful eyes to bore into Alluras, the tenseness only shying away minutely, and the disappointment not even budging. The princess soldiers on with the help of their aura bond guiding her what to say. 

“I want you to know how thankful and proud I am of you for even attempting this sort of thing with me”, she says amicably. Her hand travels from the shoulder, up the neck, and to a warm cheek. 

“I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you would go out of your way to try and learn something of my people, much less me. I have faith that if you decide to keep at it, you’ll be able to do it like a full blooded Altean.”

Just then, Allura felt a strong wave of adoration not only buff out the inner turmoil, but spill over into her own. Her aura responds back in kind, just as much. 

Pidge nuzzles into the smooth palm placed on their cheek. “I have faith too, if you let me”, they say.

“As long as you are willing.”

The smaller of the two breaks contact of their weaved hands, in favor of shifting closer to hug themselves to the princess, cheek resting onto her chest. She is surprised at first since this might be the first embrace they had that wasn’t overly emotionally charged, but she couldn’t make herself care. She hugs them back, gently soothing her hand over their shirt comfortingly. 

\--------------------------------

The next day, Pidge felt like they were ready to take on the universe. And this time, they didn’t need a princess to carry them bridal style to their bed. 

After grabbing a snack and some sort of smoothie concocted from the greenhouse produce, they go to their hangar to check up on their coding and reinstall it to test it. But then an ingenious idea came to them like a ray of sun from the heavens and decided to work on it while their diagnostics loaded. 

Hours later, they call Coran down to the detainment room.


	3. Chapter 3

“Coran, what are our current coordinates?”, Allura asks, looking up from translating her stolen Galran ship schematics. He shifts the universe globe about until he lands where the ship is, listing off the three-dimensional space coordinates for her.

“We are also still well within Galran-free territory with only a few distress signals within its radius. None are Galran related of course; mostly civil wars, and extractions. Sending them off to Shiro now for further deciphering, my princess”, he reports, digitally flinging the data onto the black paladins nearby screen for him to scroll through. The male Altean then continues to sift through the galaxies to pinpoint resources. 

“Excellent, thank you.”, she praises, before turning back to her blueprints. She soon realizes that they are pretty outdated but continues to work on it anyway. She reasons that there might be a day that this would be useful.

“Excuse me, Allura? Do you have a minute?”, a voice behind her asks. 

She looks up from her work to see a worried looking Keith, his eyebrows knitted together.

It is amazing to imagine that the boy before her was once thought to be only human. Looking back at it all, it was pretty obvious that he didn't have the disposition nor level of leniency of a full blooded human. Despite this, her past self found it within herself to feel misguided hatred towards him, despite all that they had gone through together before any of them knew. A pang of aged guilt lights up in the pit of her stomach. She swallows it down.

“Yes, Keith? Is something wrong?”, the woman asks. He clears his throat somewhat awkwardly. 

“I was wondering if maybe we could check up on Thace, real quick?”

The princess smiles warmly. Of course he'd ask. “It's about time we tapped into him, so hopefully this feed won’t cut off soon after it’s established, like last time”, she answers hopefully, but tightly, mentally guarding herself. 

She puts her schematic away for now, and activates the main computer to scroll through some Marmoran produced programs to tweak some settings until a video feed flickers onto the screen. Keith leans in with interest, watching carefully. 

The feed is sourced deep in the belly of the top security prison located in a wing of the main Zarkonian Empire ship. A prison reserved for the high priority prisoners such as treasonists, and high ranking revolutionists; they are consolidated for intel. 

The video focuses on Thace, who is sitting on the floor, undoubtfully looking bored out of his mind. There probably weren’t any conferences on the ship being held for him to tap into. The muffled yells of the prisoner in the next cell over could be heard, accusing him and the paladins for setting him up and framing him for treason against his own lord. 

Sendak.

Not that his accusations are baseless, however. Thanks to a well played plan, plenty of holograms and fake, implanted memories involved, they managed to imprison one of Zarkons supposedly most loyal subjects. It was a great victory for Voltron, that day and had the potential for something undoubtedly greater. 

“He looks a little roughed up”, observes Keith, guilt setting into his features. Years before when Team Voltron managed to ally up with the Marmorian Resistance, Keith managed to save the fellow galran from a suicide mission. Despite the half-bloods disapproval, Thace felt indebted to him and was more than happy to "turn" himself in to what was left of the Zarkonian Empire to salvage as much intel as possible on the behalf of their teams. This, of course, did not sit particularly well with the Voltron team, especially Keith. This mission was mostly monitored by the Marmora faction, but it didn't stop the paladins from checking in on him as well. 

“Was he recently interrogated? Is he going to be okay?”, Keith asks his eyes glancing over the small nicks and blood stains on his comrades tight prison uniform. . Honestly, Allura felt the same way. He seems to get more and more roughed up with each session. Were the implanted memories starting to get cracked through?

She also knows exactly what the ‘interrogations’ entail thanks to intel, but she keeps this to herself. Thankfully, Shiro stepped back from his work and puts a comforting hand on the hybrids shoulder.

“If there is anyone who is capable of doing this undercover mission, it’s Thace. It’s because of him that we are able to stay one step ahead of the Galran Empire”, he says in a reassuring, and fond tone. Just then the feed cuts off, most likely due to the internal coding that shuts it down when it senses any sign of compromising the hacking. All of their faces falter at the implications.

“...I know”, says Keith dejectedly, clenching his fists. “I just...Feel mostly responsible for this. And at any moment his mission could lapse and they’d do something to him..Or figure out that the memories we feed into him are all fake. I’m just really worried about him.”

“We are all, but remember that it was his plan to begin with and he wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer despite our pleas. It was his decision to make....All we can do is to try to keep him as safe as possible”, Shiro says, wistfully. His grip lightens to a simple touch.

“Right..”, the hybrid huffs woefully, watching the static on the screen blankly. A million thoughts were probably racing through his head. Shiro and Allura exchange sobering looks, their guilt reflecting in each others eyes. "If only we could've-"

“Keith! KEIITTH! MAH MAIN FURRY MAN! WHERE YOU AT?”

Their heads collectively swivel towards the source of the screeching. Keith groans. “I’M IN HERE”, he bellows back. "...AND I'M NOT FURRY!"

A few heavy footsteps later and Lance appears at the entrance of the hub room, dressed in his battle uniform and a shit eating grin.

“Yoooo--Hey, Hunk just reconfigured the training deck so that we can play laser tag! He wants to see if you wanna help test it! Want in, dude?”, Lance asks, holding up a plasticine replica of what looks vaguely like his bayard weapon. Keith's eyebrows warily furrow in confusion, wondering if Lance was that clueless or purposefully ignoring the mood of the room. Probably the latter. 

“Laser..tag?”, he groans.

Lance falters at this, disbelief flashing across his face. 

“You’ve never heard of laser tag? Oh man, Keith, you haven’t LIVED until you’ve played it", he says dramatically, the fake weapon hanging limply by his side. "Come on, you can be on my team!”, he says before tearing down the hall towards the training deck like a madman. 

"Yeah...Sure..", Keith mutters gloomily to himself more than anyone else. He looks back at Allura and Shiro, his facial features indicating that their conversation wasn't over. They both give a curt nod in unison, and he takes his leave. 

“Princess?”, says Coran, scrolling through the star map, “One of the larger trading hubs that we’ve already conducted diplomacy with is coming up within the next few days. It’s famous for its diversity and decent exchange rates!”, he taps the icon on the map and inflates various images of the massive marketplace. It looks very welcoming. 

“That’d make for a great rest stop for us to resupply at before the next big mission”, suggests Shiro. "It could help take our minds off of..things."

The princess agrees and the castles course is slightly reset.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

Allura is tending to her Juniper garden when she hears Pidge approach her. They have the biggest grin plastered on their face, giving a childish quality to them. She notices that they are dutifully hiding something behind their back.

“Good afternoon, Pidge”, she greets bemusedly. “What do you have there?”, she points behind them, giggling. She couldn’t help it, their elation is contagious. 

“Weeeellll…”, they begin, freeing one hand to shift their glasses, “I’ve been thinking up of ways to help you cope and I came up with this!”, they hold out a small box-like gadget in front of them. It is a small pedestal with buttons. It looks eerily familiar.

The princess takes the small thing graciously, and curiously turns it over in her palms to try and figure out what it is.

“Press that button on the bottom”, they hint excitedly, pointing to the biggest one. 

Allura does as instructed and almost immediately a small holographic Shiro flickers to life on top of the mini mount. He is a couple inches tall with a heavy, light blue overlay. The holocopy looks around for a second before looking up at the princess holding him. He grins and waves at her in the reserved kind of way that was very like the real black paladin. 

Pidge couldn’t resist reaching forward with a finger to give the tiny Shiro a revenge noogie, of which he bats away while chuckling. 

The princess is in awe at the gift. The implications were staggering to her.

“I got the idea of this from us hanging out, and talking about our fathers”, they say, looking proudly at the device. Shiro looks back at them, just as proud, and gives a knowing smile. 

“And if you keep pressing the button next to it, it cycles through the rest of us!”, Pidge adds. Allura does so and the hologram flickers into the next person. The mini Lance immediately tries to flirt with her, Keith awkwardly waves with his ears at attention, Hunk is facing the wrong way who immediately corrects himself with a hearty laugh, and when she comes to Pidge, she instinctively stops. The hologram looks up at her adoringly with a goofy smile, giving her a double thumbs up.

“I figured that if you don’t want to talk about something you could always use this device to help you! Or at least practice what you want to say or...gouge reactions or something? Or if you just get lonely? I-I don’t know”, they say running a hand through the unruly cowlicks of their hair, the other hand on their hip. 

“Sometimes I talk to objects since they’re easier to deal with, so I figured it might help you even more if it was able to give actual feedback but with no ‘strings attached’ so to speak.”, at this point they realize they were rambling and clear their throat. 

Allura is still holding the device as if it was the most fragile thing in the world, her eyes wide in astonishment. Pidge anxiously combats the silence by continuing to explain. 

“Coran was a lot of help with this since he knows the detainment room memory capsules like the back of his hand by now. Thankfully all of the others were on board with this and didn’t question my intentions”, Pidge adds, letting out a nervous chuckle. They purposely left out the fact that they had to edit Lances memories as well as open the capsule to kick him in the shin to make him behave a couple times, though.

They wait a few minutes, trying to gouge out the expression of their friend to see if she even likes it. They honestly couldn’t tell due to how frozen she is, and anxiety starts to edge onto them. They thought it was a clever gift but they are starting to second guess themself. 

“So.. What do you think?”, they ask meekly, not sure how to read the mood. 

The princess barely registered the question, but slowly tears her gaze from the grinning holo Pidge to the worried, real one in front of her. She was absolutely speechless, and didn’t know how to express how she really felt. Tears start to well up in the corner of her eyes, of which Pidge immediately took as an unfavorable reaction. They hold up their hands in defense, their eyes filled with apology.

“Allura--No wait, I’m sorry, I know we kind of talked about this sort of thing the other night but I thought this would help you. I didn’t mean to-”

Before Pidge could slip deeper into that assumption, the Altean turns off the device and tugs the startled human into a loving embrace. Her tears are now rolling down her face freely. Her fingers immediately weave into the thick, messy hair to hold their head to her shoulder, the other secured around their shoulders, hologram in hand. She feels Pidge tense, and wills her voice to be clear enough to be apprehended. 

“I love it, Pidge. This is by far one of the most thoughtful things I’ve ever received...Thank you. You’re so considerate”, she manages to say between hiccups. Relieved, the human relaxes in her hold and responds in kind, nuzzling into her familiar shoulder. They patiently wait until her weeping simmers down.

“I want to help you in anyway I can, Allura. I really don’t want you to feel that you are alone in this but I know how hard it can be to open up to others”, they whisper sadly, giving her a reassuring squeeze. 

“You’ve already gone above and beyond for me, and I can’t tell you how much that means to me”, she openly admits, reveling at the comforting warmth the other body against hers is providing.

“And as much as I appreciate your gift, Pidge, I want you to know that I will always prefer the real one. Nothing could ever replace you”, she whispers into their ear. “I just..Need some time.” In the back of her mind it felt like an odd thing to openly express, but it is what was in her heart and she needed to let it out; needed Pidge to know. 

Another thing her heart told her to do is tilt their chin up enough to place a soft kiss on their cheek, before holding them close again as if it is the last thing she would ever do. 

Pidge ignores the searing blush on their face, and the exuberant flutter in their heart. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------

“This should do the trick!”, Pidge says proudly, perched on top of Green Lions’ head. 

The specialized nodes they’ve been working on all day to help maximize the effectiveness of the diagnostics are finally put in place. Taking advantage of the jetpack extension on their paladin armor, they safely flit down from the muzzle of the ancient machine and onto the hangar floor below. Once they land, they give it a once over to gander at their handiwork.

“I swear, Green, if this doesn’t work, I’ll have to team up with Hunk to see what is wrong”, they say, patting one of the claws of the beast. “But let’s try and make this a ‘one shot, one kill’, alright? I’ve got a long list of upgrades to test on you, and it’s not getting any shorter, you know?.”

They walk up to their computer station to input some data into their computer and start the program. When they confirm that the nodes were working and giving visible feedback, they leave the computer to do its thing.

“Welp...This could take a while….”, they mutter to themselves, boredly looking around the spacious vicinity. They forgot to bring their extra laptop that they were watching pirated movies on last night, and didn’t feel like leaving the hangar to retrieve it. The program would have been done by the time they got back. 

Instead, they pick up their helmet and start to flick through the channels of the internal radio to see if any nearby diplomatically neutral podcasts were live. It wasn’t so much the actual content that Pidge enjoyed the most about them, but rather the helmets’ language translator awkwardly (and often hilariously) mistranslating something. But sometimes the topics were so outlandish that they were amusing in their own right. 

As they were deciding between listening in on a cannibalistic cooking show interview, or a competitive opera commentary, they heard odd clanging noises coming from a nearby vent. Sighing exasperatedly while rolling their eyes, they walk in front of the sheet of slotted metal, their hands on their hips. They tap their boot impatiently as the noises came increasingly closer and louder. 

“Lance, for the last time, you’re terrible at being a ‘ninja’. Leave the stealth shit to me”, they grit out, yanking the vent cover off to yell at him some more. Maybe even threaten to cut back his 80’s martial arts movie intake. Again.

Instead, they were greeted with Alluras’ mice lookin up at them with their wide, beady eyes. Pidge raises an eyebrow.

“How did the four of you manage to make that much noise?”, they ask, genuinely amazed. The lankiest mouse shrugs. That is when Pidge finally realizes that the creatures were holding a ribbon secured cloth bundle. Pidge squints and points at it.

“...And how did you plan on getting this through the vent slots, exactly...?”. Another shrug. 

The mice then collectively hold the package up towards the paladin, as if proudly presenting it. “Ooohhh, it’s for me?”, they ask, perplexed. The mice nod, and Pidge gently plucks it out of their paws. The rodents proceed to scamper up the humans arm and to their shoulder, presumably to watch the gift be unraveled. They chitter excitedly.

Pidge tugs off the folded note that was pinned to the cloth. The writing is flowy, precise, and very Allura. Butterflies awaken in their stomach as they read it. 

_“Pidge, ___

_I made some of those peanut butter cookies you’ve mentioned coveting before! Don’t worry, everything is from the garden, and Hunk guided me through it. It was very hard to make enough “peanut butter” for the recipe, but I hope it is worth it!_

_-Allura”_

Pidge stares at the note, shocked and blushing profusely. Their pulse quickens.

They hastily unwrap the delicate cloth, revealing the promised baked goods underneath. They still have a hint of warmth and were embellished with the little fork marks in them and everything. That part undoubtedly has Hunk written all over it. 

Pidge picks up a morsel to nibble on it, their favorite flavor in the entire universe filling their mouth for the first time in what seemed like forever. But at this point the cookies could have come out terrible, and they’d still appreciate them. Allura took the time to not only make the peanut butter, but also the cookies themselves. It was one of the most thoughtful gifts they’ve ever received, and by the princess no less. 

They bolt out of the hangar, the mice clinging on for dear life. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------

Allura was not given any warning when she was nearly tackled in the main hall from behind, along with an avalanche of squeaky ‘thank yous’. The princess looks down at the lithe arms encompassing her waist, knowing exactly which paladin the green color coded armor is attached to. She reaches behind herself to pat Pidge on the head.

“I see the mice delivered your surprise on a timely manner”, she says, chuckling. “I know that if I hand delivered them, that they'd get cold by the time I got there. Hunk told me they were best when warm. Did they taste any good?”

She receives an answer in the form of an excited nod against her back. They feel her let out a breath of relief. “I was actually worried they didn’t come out right since we don’t exactly have any of the earth ingredients. We had to make due with a lot of alternatives, especially with the pseudo peanut butter”, Allura confesses. 

“They’re perfect. Absolutely perfect…..Thank you”, Pidge mumbles happily into her back, giving her another squeeze. The butterflies in their stomach are very lively. 

Then they let go to stand in front of her, holding up the bundle of cookies between them. “Would you like to share the rest with me?”, they ask hopefully, internally fighting the dust of a blush down.

Allura couldn’t resist the smile spreading across her face. She honestly didn’t expect this, but wasn’t about to let such a touching opportunity slip by. “I would love to, Pidge.”

They go to her Juniper garden sanctuary, light heartedly chatting on the bench as they nibble on the confections together. The mice enjoy the many morsels offered to them. 

Later on Hunk received a very similar flying hug, and the last cookie. 

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------

 

“Sports games, sleep overs, tea parties, to name just a few types of social gatherings of various scales.”, Pidge lists to Allura, tipping the sugar kettle into their cup of decaffeinated tea. The two have been comparing their respective home cultures since dinner. The last thing they need is the already restless human pinging off the walls at this hour. 

“Sleep….Over?”, Allura asks, her face scrunches up in confusion. It scrunches up even more as she watches Pidge add more and more sugar into their tea. It was going to turn into juniper tea leaf flavored sugar if they didn’t let up soon. Pidge looks up from their defiled beverage.

“Yeah! You know! When you hang out at someones place and do stuff together all night”, Pidge explains. They finally cease desecrating their cup of tea with sinful saccharine in favor of swirling a tiny spoon in it. 

“We’ve done this Sleep Over before, correct?”, Allura inquires, finally able to relate to something Pidge said that humans do. The paladin pauses their mixing to pour some lizard-butterfly honey.

“Technically? They’re kind of different from what we’ve done..Have you never actually been to one before?”, Pidge inquires, astonished. This caught them off guard. “Maybe you just have a different term for it?” 

The princess hums, holding her chin thoughtfully to try and remember. “If it was something Alteans did, then I didn’t have a chance to take part in it. I was an only child and a very busy one at that.” she looks back down at Pidge. “Royal duties don’t conduct themselves, after all”, she adds with an almost apologetic smile. “So please! Explain. I am curious of this Sleep Over.” She rests her chin on top of her hands, leaning in. 

“Well...It’s…It’s a just for fun sort of thing. Like..”, they start to count off their fingers, “Watching movies, playing video games, dismantling and building computers together, ...or..or...”, Pidge stops to think for a moment, at a loss themselves. “To be honest I’ve never actually done it before when I was on Earth.”, they confess, somewhat embarrassed.

“But sometimes my brother would have friends over when we were younger so I like to think that counts”, they add with a sheepish smile, shrugging and fidgeting their glasses. 

“I see…”, the Altean says in a tone that was full of awe. “We should do one, you and I. Tonight.”

“A sleep over?”

The princess slams both palms onto the table in resolution, almost making the green paladin jump.

“Yes! It sounds absolutely wonderful, does it not?!”, she declares, clearly excited. Pidges eyebrows shoot up to their hairline.

“Yeah. Sure. Okay”, they squeak out, dazed.

Pidge finally takes a sip of their ‘tea’ concoction and almost immediately spits it back out from the sweetness overload. Allura laughs. 

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------

 

“Let’s see...Snacks…”, Pidge glances at the juice boxes, chips, and sweets floating nearby in bowls.

“..Check. Pajamas..”

They look down at their black tank top and simple green sweatpants, and then at Alluras night gown. 

“...Check! Computer..”

They flop down onto the princess’ bed and drag the levitating plate with their laptop on it, closer.

“..Check! We have all the basic necessities for a sleep over”, they say, proudly. 

They scoot back into the pillows of Alluras bed to get comfortable, the princess excitedly following suit.

“So...What do you want to do first, Allura?”, Pidge asks, booting their computer up. “We can start off with a video game or two. Or maybe a movie? I got a lot of earth movies stored in this, but I can tap into a nearby planets and see if they have anything”, the human offers, typing away.

“I am rather curious of human culture. I would like to watch a movie, please!”, the princess answers, reaching into a nearby floating bowl to nibble on some chips made from sweet roots. 

“Human culture..Human culture..”, they mutter, scrolling through their arsenal of earth movies. Taking the request quite literally, they skim over the glamorized, Hollywood media in favor of a documentary about different Earth countries and their differences, and origins. It ends up being pretty interesting, even to Pidge.

They knew they made the right choice when they glance over to the princess to see how she is taking it in. She has her arms wrapped around her legs, with her head perched on top of her knees; akin to a child deeply engrossed in their favorite Saturday morning cartoon. Her eyes were glued to the screen, drinking everything in. Pidge smiles to themself and continues to watch the documentary. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------

“Wow..I would have never thought that your species was so….diverse in that sense”, the Altean says as the documentary comes to an end. “I can understand why my people would be, due to our chameleonic abilities, but yours… That’s quite amazing. You have your own adaptive abilities.”

“Well...When you put it like that, I guess we can be pretty neat, I guess.”, Pidge says with a shrug. “But Alteans seem to be much more interesting though. I mean, you can literally shapeshift! That has endless possibilities of diversity!”, they say, throwing their arms wide to emphasize. “I can only imagine what your people were truly capable of.”

They start to rub their chin in thought. “But you know, speaking of shapeshifting--How come I’ve rarely seen you use it? If I had that ability I’d make myself at least a foot taller..Maybe more arms to help out? Another head to double the processing, perhaps?”, they say, trying to imagine themselves with said additions. It came out kind of horrific, yet kind of cool. 

“I don’t really have a use for it, besides diplomatic purposes or stealth missions. I prefer my original form. It takes the least amount of energy to do so”, Allura answers honestly.

“Yeah, fair enough, I prefer your original form anyway”, Pidge casually says out loud with a hint of admiration in their voice. 

A second later they tense up, realizing what they said. “Er--Wait I mean because it’s the real you, and I didn’t mean for that to come out weird--”

Allura lets out a hearty laugh at that, one that Pidge rarely ever hears; they stop in their tracks to listen to the lovely sound. The Altean wags their hand at the other.

“It’s fine, it’s fine Pidge. I got what you mean.”, she manages to say between giggles. After a moment of silence, a mischievous smile graces the princess’ features, and she starts to morph her body. Pidge watches in awe, until they realize what she is shifting into.

“Heeeey!”, they wail accusingly. Soon they were staring back at a copy of themselves, but one with bright blue eyes and Altean markings gracing their skin. They looked absolutely ridiculous with the now oversized gown draping over a slim shoulder.

“Hello!”, the other ‘Pidge’ greets in a more feminine voice. “My name is Pidge and I am addicted to algorithms and fruit juices, and like to mess with the coding of the invisible maze on the training deck to screw with the other paladins when I think no one is looking!”

The real Pidge laughs and shoves at her shoulder jestingly. “Heeeey, cut that out! How did you know I even did that!?”

Allura slumps, with a lovingly exasperated look on her (their) face. “Seriously, Pidge? You really don’t think that I can see that? Most common areas of the castle are monitored.”, she says.

Pidge scoffs playfully. They conveniently forgot about that. Then they pick up a white pillow and put it on top of their head, muttering something about ‘two can play that game’ under their breath.

“Um, yes hello, my name is Allura, and I like to steal sweets from the kitchen and then blame Lance for it and check myself out on every reflective surface--hey!”, they yelp as another pillow playfully comes in contact with their chest. They instantly use their arms to shield themselves from the ensuing strikes, giggling. Between raining blows they manage to get a peek at the angry blush painting Alluras cheeks, a childish pout for her expression. 

“Oh come on! It’s nothing to be ashamed of! Hunk is a great cook!”, they manage to say between feathery assaults. They receive an especially hard whap for that. 

“You’re such a little twerp--I can’t believe you brought that up--”, Allura laughs out, mercilessly pressing her pillow onto their face to smother them. 

“I...Regret...Nothing…!”, they manage to squeal from under the comfy torment. 

Pidge manages to grab their own pillow and strikes back with gusto, catching the morphed princess off guard for a second. They barely manage to slip their glasses off to a safer place when they were rained with hits again. The two dissolve into a fit of giggles and the pillow fight turns into an all out war between the two, cushions flung everywhere, sheets and blankets crumpled. 

Soon they were both breathing heavily, fatigue bleeding into their body language. They both eye the other wearily, waiting for an opening, until Allura relents and holds out a Pidge sized hand. 

“Truce..?”, she offers breathlessly, a goofy smile splitting her face. Pidge happily accepts without hesitation. “Truce.”

The paladin flops down onto the bed, letting out a couple more chuckles, staring at the ceiling. They lift an arm to rest on their forehead comfortingly. Allura reverts back to her normal form and flops down as well. That took a lot more out of her than she expected. She snuggles into her pillow and turns to her side to observe the human laying next to her.

Their hair is messier than usual; ruffled and yet they still rocked the look. A very thin sheen of sweat clung to the visible skin of the body, and their chest still heaving from the fun filled exertion. Their honey brown colored eyes were half hooded as they stared dreamily above, the beautiful assets framed with thick lashes. All a part of the package that is Pidge. The one and only. 

Alluras thoughts went downhill from there, and quick. 

It took Pidge a minute to realize they were being stared at and turn their head to investigate. What they didn’t expect was a rather distant, forlorn pair of eyes staring back. Immediately the mood of the room shifts, and they feel it tingle on the very edge of their being. Worry sets in.

“Allura..?”, they cautiously venture. 

The princess blinks upon the calling of her name, her eyes snapping to focus. “Oh..My apologies Pidge. I was just thinking”, she says in a quiet tone. She looks away. Perplexed, Pidge turns their body to mirror Alluras. 

“Thinking about what?”, they softly ask. Allura breathes in a deep breath, and lets it out slowly.

“Losing you. Losing any of you. We’re all irreplaceable.”, she pauses as if mulling something over, but decides to go for it when Pidge remains silent.

“I often wonder...What would happen if any of us were to perish? Especially if Coran or myself are gone? Are we going to see this mission through to the end together? Would anyone ever be able to pick up where we started? How would the next generation come forth?”, she finally confesses the barrage of questions that have been plaguing her since the beginning. 

Pidge didn’t know what to say. Instead, they reach out a hand to seek one of hers and squeezes it reassuringly. 

Drunk off the weight being lifted from her confession, and comforting gesture, Alluras allows her thoughts to spill out for once. 

“Our mission can relapse at any moment and all progress we’ve made will be lost, and we’ve only been able to recover a fraction of the universe from the damage Zarkon has caused”

She finally looks the paladin in the eye, “I worry about this every second, of every day, Pidge. We’re the only ones capable of stopping him at this point, and I know in detail of what they do to those they conquer...It’s...It’s terrible.”, she says, her eyes starting to water.

It’s almost as if the gravity in the whole room had shifted. Realization dawns on Pidge, horror licking at them like waves of acid. They steel themself and try not to reflect this. They give Alluras hand another squeeze, one that they need just as much.

“You’ve mentioned before that it’s your hope that helps keep you going, right?”, they murmur.

“Yes. It is. We’ve come a long way, but we have so much more ways to go. The future is uncertain, no matter how much of the playing field we gain in victory.”, Allura answers. “Hope is the only certain thing I do have.”

Something similar had been nesting in the back of Pidges’ mind ever since they first became a paladin years ago, but to actually hear it from their commander first hand was daunting. 

Instead, they shift themselves and gently guide Allura to their chest, of which she gratefully accepts the gesture. She wraps her arms around their agile yet sturdy waist, burying her face into their flat chest as if shielding herself from the rest of the universe. She lays her sensitive ear on top of where their heart is to listen to the comforting lullaby of the strong heartbeat of her paladin. 

In turn, Pidge cushions an arm under their own head, while the other soothingly threads through her hair. They stare blankly at the wall adjacent to them, absorbing all that was said in that last couple of minutes. It is a lot to take in.

They stay like this for a while, their bodies steadily becoming more and more like lead.

“Pidge?”, Allura asks quietly. Her voice barely audible.

“Yes, Allura?”

“Can this be the ‘sleeping’ part of the Sleep Over, now?”, she asks, burying her face ever more into their welcoming warmth.

“Of course”, they say without hesitation. They snap their fingers and the lights die down, leaving the two to rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhh... SO. I know this chapter is KIND OF WEIRD but I promise there's a plot in there. Somewhere. But, I am very VERY excited for the next few chapters and hope you'll enjoy them as much as I write them!
> 
> Also, please remember that comments are my life blood! Please tell me how I am doing! This is the first multi-chapter fic I've ever written so feedback is amazing. Everyday I like to read through the comments you all give me, which in turn give me strength and inspiration to keep on. Thanks!


	4. Stranded (Part 1)

“Yeaaah..I’m not sure what the deal is”, Hunk confesses, carefully sifting through the shoulder circuitry of the Green Lion. 

Seeing nothing amiss, he carefully places the armor panel back to weld it into place. “Pidge, are you sure this is a mechanical issue..and like..Not a spiritual one, or whatever?”, he suggests casually. He eyes his handiwork but flinches when he sees Pidges’ head whip around and shoot a glare at him that could kill a lesser man. His hands shoot up as if to protect him from the metaphorical daggers.

“Whoa whoa, I mean, I’m just not seeing anything out of the ordinary here”, he pauses, his eyes lighting up. “What if..What if Green Lion is HAUNTED?”

The green paladin groans in answer, and defeatedly flops down on the neck of the beast to stare at the hangar ceiling, limbs sprawled. 

“Stellar hypothesis there, Hunk, but could you be a little bit more serious? This has to be figured out before the next mission. Green Lion isn’t Green Lion without the shields, and the diagnostics haven’t picked up anything unusual about the AI either.” Weirder stuff has happened, sure, but their gut told them otherwise on this one.

Hunk hums thoughtfully before jetting himself onto the Lions’ back to sit on the edge of it. He peers over to look down at his friend, casually swinging his legs.

“Have you had a heart-to-heart with Green about it?” A pregnant pause.

“A what.”

“You know..Have you tried straight up just asking Green Lion what the matter is?”

Pidge considers this for a moment, squinting. “No, actually. I think you’re onto something there.”

“Yyyeeeuuuup, there it is. I think you two are overdue for a good talk then. Green probably knows what’s up, don’t you, girl?”, he affectionately pats the mecha, and starts to coo at it with a high pitched voice. Pidge groans at him like they just heard the worst pun joke ever. “Quit treating my ancient war machine like a household cat.” Hunk lets out an offended noise.

“Well _somebody_ around here has to show said ‘ancient war machine’ some love since apparently her own pilot doesn’t”. He earns another glare for that. “Seriously, give it a try! What’s the worse that could happen?”

“The last time you said that the castle almost exploded.”

“UGH, you get the point!”

Pidge lazily gets up onto their feet and jet hops on over to the head of the mecha, sliding down onto the muzzle to stare straight into one of the massive, yellow eyes. They take a moment to peer at it, watching the reflection in the glassy surface. A frazzled, young adult with the universe on their shoulders stares back at them. They break eye contact not even a second later.

Getting onto their knees, they bend over to place their gloved hands on the cool surface of their mecha. Closing their eyes, they focus on something other than the physical presence of their environment, calling out to the core of the vessel. 

“Come on, girl….Please tell me what’s wrong”, they mutter gently, opening their mind and soul to coax any reaction out of the beast. 

What they got is a barrage of visions of the many experiments and upgrades they’ve done to the mecha over the years. It was like a deck of cards being flung into your vision and each one had its own television show on it. There were so many at once that it alone almost overwhelms Pidge. Anxiety builds up within their chest like an angry hive, forcing them to break the bond to take a moment to recuperate. They feel a hand on their shoulder.

“You alright, buddy?” An alarmed voice.

They look up to see a worried Hunk over them, kneeling down and poised.

“What happened? You’re as white as a ghost!”, he says as his concerned eyes skitter over their heaving form. Pidge didn’t realize how hard they were breathing until they spoke, nor the cold sweat covering their body under the black mesh.

“Yeah..I’m fine. I just need a moment”, they say, lifting a small hand to pinch the bridge of their nose. 

That took a lot more out of them than they expected.

“Geez, what kind of conversation did you two have for you to react like that?! I don’t think that is normal...”, the yellow paladin rubs a hand over the unarmored portion of their back.

“Green was just feeding me images of the upgrades I’ve given her..Nothing more, though.”, they manage to say as their shudders reduce to a halt. “I’m not sure what it means or why it overwhelmed me like that.” They could still feel the last remnants of anxiety ebbing away.

“Me neither, maybe we should talk to the others about it later”, Hunk suggests. “But for now I really think you need a break.”

Pidge didn’t have a chance to argue as he picks up his friend and jets them off of the Green Lion to land on the floor below. They yelp but otherwise don’t complain about the sudden movement. He continues to be glued to their side as they exit the hangar, just in case. 

“Do you want to go to your room to lie down for a bit, buddy?”

“Nah, I’m fine Hunk. I was just a little overwhelmed, is all. I’ll talk to Shiro or Coran about it later.”

“Yeah, but you’re still really pale. Do you want something to eat? Drink?”

“Hunk, I’m _fine_ ”

“Not even a peanut butter protein shake? We got some leftover ingredients from the cookies”, he offers. They pause, considering it.

“Heh, alright Hunk. I’m sold.”, they cave in, he immediately brightens up. “Thanks.”

“Good, because the pseudo-peanut butter doesn’t have an outstanding shelf life and needs to be used soon. There was way too much work put into it to go to waste.”

A pause hangs between them.

“What exactly is that batch ‘peanut butter’ made of, anyway?”

“Don’t ask a question you don’t want an answer to”, Hunk says a little too quietly while staring pointedly ahead, with a hint of terror. Pidge looks up at him, clearly disturbed.

\--

Half an hour later, the two end up in the greenhouse, shakes in hand. Hunk is happy to mentally note that color returned to Pidges’ face.

The pair eventually find themselves casually strolling through the rows of berry bushes, enjoying the blossoms before they became fruit soon. The resident pollinators are busy at work.

“Maaan, I can’t wait to make pies again”, the natural cook says, eyeing a particular bush excitedly. His mouth starts to water at the thought of baked goods. “My mom made the BEST and I still remember some of the recipes. They really remind me of home.” 

Home.

Pidges’ thoughts stray to their family. Thankfully Allura has been effectively distracting them lately, but those thoughts were bound to haunt them again. They always do. The longer they are apart, the less chance of being able to find them.

“...Hey, Hunk?”, they ask, barely above a whisper, staring down at their half finished shake forlornly. Hunk looks up, the tone worrying him.

“You miss home, right?” A question that is asked almost absent-mindedly. They walk up to a nearby bench and slump in it.

“Of course I do”, the other paladin answers almost as quietly, sitting next to them. “I think about it everyday. I’m pretty sure the whole team does, actually.”

“How do you keep from thinking about it too much?”, they swirl their now frothy drink around in its cup contemplatively. “No matter how busy I try to keep myself, it keeps eating at me.”

Hunk takes a moment to mull over the question. He has a feeling that this is something that has been particularly plaguing his friend as of late.

“Everyone has their own coping mechanisms to deal with it, but they change to fit the emotional needs.”, he says thoughtfully. “For instance I have food and Shay, Lance knits, Keith collects stuff and researches his heritage, Shiro has his journal-- _that I’ve totally never read, I swear_ \--Coran builds architectural stuff, and the princess? I don’t know but she has her ways of dealing with it too, I’m sure. Maybe you just need something new to keep your mind off it of?”

Pidge hums in answer, staring ahead absentmindedly, pose lax.

Hunk takes a moment to survey his friend, concerned. He puts two and two together.

“Don’t worry buddy, we’ll find them some day. I can feel it.”. He affectionately nudges his shoulder with theirs. That seems to be a right enough answer as Pidge snaps out of it long enough to huff out a weak chuckle.

“Thanks, Hunk.”

He takes this as a hint to steer the conversation elsewhere; he’s known Pidge too long to not know the signs by now.

“So Pidge, what happened to those bags you had under your eyes? They’ve been there so long that I was beginning to think they were a part of the whole ‘Pidge experience”, Hunk asks half-jokingly as he cranes his neck to get a better angle at the almost healthy colored skin under their eyes, “How have you actually managed to get sleep lately?”

The questions catch them off guard. They furiously fight down the thoughts of Allura and the last week, battling a blush that insists on taking residence on their cheeks.

They can’t help but wonder if it is appropriate to disclose such an intimate thing to anyone else anyway? Allura did mention that it is is sacred with her people. But what is appropriate? What exactly is the social protocol with aura weaving?

A million thoughts instantly race through their mind, effectively clogging it. They feel a bead of sweat rolling down the back of their neck when they realize that the silence between them is expanding into suspicious territory. One of their best friends is expecting an answer. What do they say? They can’t tell the truth, but they’re also notoriously bad at lying. 

But that doesn’t mean they won’t try. 

“Uhhh. I don’t know?” 

Annnnd _nailed it._

Hunk raises an eyebrow, tilting his head comprehensively. They could practically see the gears turning in his head. Panic starts to set in because _shit he’s already onto them._ Before Pidge could even think about stuttering out a half-assed lie, the intercoms of the helmets crackle to life and Shiros voice is heard. 

“Team, we’re coming up on a planet hosting a trading hub here in the next hour or so. We just have to finalize our clearance. It’s a good time to resupply if you need it. For everyone going, meet up at the Main Room. Time now.”

Hunk immediately launches himself from the bench and throws his hands up as if in victory, almost sending protein shake flying everywhere. Pidge internally sighs in relief. A potential discussion they weren’t ready for is derailed.

“Whooo! I’ve been wanting to buy some new seeds for the greenhouse! Ohhhh, you think they might have a food court? Even food stalls would be nice if it’s anything like that one supply depot planet was a couple months back”, he babbles excitedly. “Maybe I can even snag something cool for Shay, too!”

When he hears no reaction, he turns to Pidge, who is still slumping against the bench, intently staring that the ground.

“You coming?”

“No.” 

“Dude, you’ve turned down resupply opportunities four times in a row already! You need some fresh air, and they might have some really cool stuff around. Maybe even catch a good deal on an upgrade or two?” 

This seems to entice them at first, but the smaller of the two falls to their side and dramatically sprawl their limbs all over the bench instead.

“Huuunnnnnk, I hate crowds and the last time I went was a complete disasteeerrr”, they whine childishly. “Can’t I just give you money and you buy stuff that you think I like?”

“Uh, no? I have my own shopping to do. I’ve been dying to try new food!”

“Might wanna retract the ‘dying’ part on that, buddy.” He chuckles at that.

“Okay, you got me there, but I’m still not shopping on your behalf. You really need a break from the castle” He bends down by the waist and offers a hand to his fellow techie.

Pidge rolls their eyes, but accepts his hand to be pulled up. “Fine. But only for a little bit.”

\-------------------------------------------

“Lance, no ‘guests’ in the castle, no ‘special’ services, don’t accept any suspiciously too good to be true deals, and no flirting with anyone or anything. Understood?”, Shiro lists off a little too well--It’s obvious that he’s had to mention this times before. The only sign of acknowledgement is a sigh that sounded suspiciously like ‘killjoy’.

“Hunk, be extra careful and scan everything before consumption or planting it into the greenhouse. Let’s not repeat that mistake again, alright?”, everyone collectively shudders at this. The brickhouse of a man straightens up and dutifully salutes Shiro. He earns a chuckle.

“And Pidge, you haven’t been going on any leisure trips lately but I am confident you have enough common sense to not cause any trouble; but if there is, immediately inform the rest of us and return to the castle.” They nod.

Allura steps up and hands each paladin their respective pass. “And here are the passes. You must have these on your person at all times, or the security may kick you out. They are very keen on keeping this place as safe as possible. You only get one, so make sure not to lose them”, she explains, “Always remember that we are still spreading the reputation for Voltron especially while in our suits, so watch your behavior at all times. We may be the saviors of the Universe, but we are still a humble-”, she shoots a grumpy glare at Lance who immediately looks away, whistling, "team who is not above any local laws. Got it?". 

And off they went. It didn’t take long for the group to break up; Lance immediately ran off to check the plaza dedicated to textiles to feed his knitting projects, Hunk naturally gravitates to food, while Keith went off to investigate the wide variety of weaponry on sale. Coran volunteered to stay back in the castle but gave Lance money for supplies.

“Wow..This place sure is crowded”, Pidge mutters, hanging close to Shiro and Allura. Regret bubbles in the pit of their stomach. They really hate having their personal bubble compromised. 

“It is, isn’t it? Such a lovely, diverse community”, the Altean gushes, obviously enjoying herself without having even spent a single coin yet. In the back of their mind, Pidge couldn’t help but admire that part of the princess. Of course someone like her would enjoy variety. Her species’ depended on it.

As they walk around they’d be stopped and thanked by a familiar passerby for their service every once in awhile, but otherwise the populace is spread out enough to not warrant mounting anxiety. Only a few elbow bumps so far, nothing too impolite. Eventually Pidge became comfortable enough to wander from Shiro and Allura, various automotive or antique shops catching their eye. One shop in particular pulls the green paladin towards it. 

It is roomy, vacant, and brimming with fascinating alien artifacts. Pidge is in heaven. 

They slowly make their rounds through the isles, eyeing everything with inquisitive scrutiny. One of the items on the shelves that piqued their interest is a fancy looking little container that looks like it could be used for serving beverages in for the richer folk of that culture and era. Allura immediately comes to mind so they reach out and take it off the shelf for a price tag.

“Whoooa, this is much heavier than it looks!”, Pidge yelps out, almost dropping the antique. It is the size of a small tea kettle, but weighs as much as a large bowling ball. They inspect the thing even closer now, wondering about the origin of its weight and the strange markings etched into its surface. It looks like it’s made of stone that was smoothed over from years of being submerged in running water. 

This seems to have caught the attention of the shopkeeper as the small, almost goat-like creature with one eye approaches them cheerfully. Its horns are shaped like diamonds, their pupil a mere slit. Pidge fleetingly wonders how it views the world with that thing.

“Careful! Mysterious, ceremony forest dead long”, the employee says. Or rather, the translator via their helmet says. Pidge could tell that the creature is saying much more than what was being translated as they kept moving their mouth and gibbering, but was only being provided a few words at a time. Either their dialect was that thick or the helmets translator really needs a fine tuning. Probably the latter. Pidge regrets not picking up one of the complimentary universal translators offered at the entrance. They really want to know more about the thing in their hands.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful”, Pidge answers, when the mammalian alien pauses its weird bleating. They really hope that it was the right answer, but the seemingly confused expression on the snout of the creature says otherwise. 

“Did you find anything interesting, Pidge?”, a nearby, familiar voice says. They whip their head towards the source of the lovely sound to see Allura approaching them, carrying a small shopping bag. They glance at it for a second with interest before scanning the area to see if Shiro is nearby; he is occupied near the front of the shop, investigating a vase that looks suspiciously of Galran culture. 

“Everything in here is pretty cool, but this in particular caught my eye”, Pidge answers, holding up the antique in question chest level to show it off. “What do you think?” They had considered buying it and surprising her with it, but that notion went out the window.

She bends over slightly to get a better look at the thing, understandably smitten with the etchings on its surface. “It’s beautiful… Let’s see what kind of written language is on it..” She reaches out a hand to thumb away a crude layer of soot to read the characters better, but stops when she sees a pale glow emit from the delicate cracks.

Both watch in awe as the pale light spreads across the etchings like running water and soon the whole thing is engulfed, bathing the small vicinity in hues of blue. 

The next thing either of them knew, they were stunned, unable to move a single muscle, as the light encases them.

\------------------------

As soon as a paralyzing effects fade off, both open their eyes to see what had transpired. It takes them a moment to adjust to their new surroundings. It is dark; a chill hangs in the air. Nothing stirs upon their unforeseen arrival.

“Are you okay, Pidge?”, Allura asks weakly, out of breath and recovering. She reaches a hand to her heart instinctively; her eyes lock onto the paladins’ identically shocked ones.

“I’m alright. You?”, they answer, equally winded. “I’m unharmed”, she replies, glancing around the area. “How did we get here? Last thing I knew there was a light.” 

As soon as the question is asked, both pair of eyes land on the artifact they were both touching. As if it had simultaneously scorched their flesh, they both let go of the relic. It clatters to the ground, the sound hauntingly bouncing off the walls. Seconds later it is engulfed in an unnatural blue smoke, making them both flinch at the sight. It turns into a pile of dust before their very eyes. 

They stand there in silence staring at it, the rapid escalation of events spinning around in their heads. Pidge is the first to speak.

“Well..This blows.”, they deadpan.”I come outside for five minutes and THIS happens”, they dejectedly motion the mound of what used to be the relic.

“I can’t help but agree. It seems it left my purchases behind at that shop as well..”, the Altean huffs, noticing that she is empty handed, “That gift I bought was particularly expensive. I hope Shiro finds the bag, or Hunk buys some more...”

“But in the meantime,” she shifts her eyes to gain night vision capabilities, “We need to know where we are, and how to get out of here before anything finds interest in us.” She scans the vicinity to find that thick, ancient roots make up the walls; their surly bark scorched with the same etchings the late relic had. Creepy setting, but otherwise safe. For now. 

“I hope I don’t have to buy that relic since we technically broke it...” The brunette mutters, activating their computerized system on the wrist of their suit. “As soon as I get our coordinates I’ll send them off to Coran so he can come get us”, they state, finger punching various icons on their screen. They take a moment to pace in a tight circle, searching for a signal. They fidget their visor when realization is upon them. 

“Ooorrr maybe not?”, Pidge says, crestfallen.”There seems to be some sort of interference. I could have sworn I recently updated all the suits to be able to establish a direct connection to the castle from anywhere..How odd.” They mumble the last bit to themself more than Allura. A mental note for later. 

“We can exit this cave through that hole in the ceiling, I scanned the area and don’t see any other way out.”, the Altean proposes, pointing to said hole above them. Pidges’ eyes follows where she is pointing.

“Yeah, that should do it.”

They materialize their bayard then carefully aim it at the rim of the window before firing. Taking a moment to test the strength of the established line, they step into the sun rays and then holds out an arm invitingly. Allura takes a few steps toward them, but hesitates. 

Because in that very moment, she couldn’t help but admire how beautiful the paladin looks while bathed in the golden shaft of light illuminating them. Their features took on an almost ethereal shade, their armor and visor glinting spectacularly. Amber eyes, bright and curious, looking right at her. She felt her mouth go dry. 

“You coming?”, they ask, amused by her moment of hesitation, but not realizing the true implications of it. Her epiphany comes to a screeching halt.

“Er--Yes. My apologies.” She siddles her taller body to the side of theirs, their limbs securing each other for the ascension. Both secretly enjoy the moments of closeness, a nice distraction from the want to look down and see how far up off the ground they are becoming. Pidge is suddenly thankful of all the times Shiro urged them to do their flexor muscle training weekly; this would have been much more difficult, and much more scary without that shred of confidence.

As soon as they both exit the cave the lack of a signal is apparent: they are stranded in the middle of a massive rainforest that looks like it could host megafauna. The canopy of the trees alone looks thick enough to be able handle a highway of vehicles with ease. The thick foliage above creates a ceiling as far as the eye can see. Windy branches weave to and fro like petrified anacondas. The implications are unsettling.

Pidge flicks their screen back on, fiddling with some settings.“I still can’t even contact Green Lion from here. We might have get on top of the canopy to send out an alert,”, they attempt to scroll through the projected monitor but mostly got static, their face scrunched up in displeasure.

That is when Allura felt it. At first weak vibrations shook the heavy roots they were standing on, but they steadily escalate into full scale tremors. Her ears tingle.

“Pidge, something is coming!”

Allura barely had enough time to lurch forward and crumble the both of them to their knees and pin them to the safety of the wall the roots provide when a creature bounds over them like a deer, its long legs allowing it great strides. It roars in duress, quickly disappearing out of sight. 

Yet the quaking continues to become more aggressive, and at that point Pidge didn’t need anymore convincing to kick themselves into gear. They aim their bayard to the closest tree bough above them and grabs the princess by the waist to zip them out of harms way just in time. They both look down to see the commotion.

Below, a stampede of angry, heavily armoured quadrupeds rip their way through the wilderness, occasionally lashing the horns adorning their muzzles at anything in their path. The surrounding foliage receives the brunt end of this disturbance, including the tree that the two were desperately hanging off of. They manage to scale the line half way up the tree when another problem arose.

The stampede ends up using their tree as a fork in their path, surrounding them with chaos. The animals unleash their fury onto the poor thing, carving ungainly gashes into its ancient surface.

The more slashes their tree receives, the more it lurches and bends, and the more panic spikes their bloodstreams. At this rate not even the fortitude of the massive trunk would be able to withstand the rage of these creatures. It starts to crack and splinter from the barrage of abuse, more and more of the beasts piling around and wreaking havoc with no signs of slowing down.

Pidge scours the trembling landscape, their heart thumping in their ears. They spot another tree that is a little ways off, but much more safe. An idea is born.

“Allura, swing in time with me! We need the momentum to get to safety”, Pidge yells over the loud roaring from below. 

Catching on, the Altean nods with determination, winding her arms tighter around the paladins’ neck, their grip fastening around her waist. They bend and swing their bodies in unison, Pidge activating their jetpack during the arc for extra boost. But with each swing they manage, the tree loudly creaks, evidence of its last stand. It groans louder, and louder, doing no favors for the anxiety gripping them both.

“Just a little bit more--”

At the last possible second Pidge manages to dislodge the bayards’ blade as the behemoth finally succumbs to the will of the stampede; they barely escape being brought down with it and slamming into the ground only to be trampled over. The paladin instantly aims at the next branch at the apex of their swing, buying them enough momentum and time to secure the line once again and swing forward. They rinse and repeat a few times, fear and adrenaline fueling their calculated movements. 

But soon their acceleration gained much more traction than anticipated, the wind whipping past them, the forest becoming a blur. They could have sworn their faces nearly collide with a bird at some point. Allura is screaming her head off. Pidge is too.

They come to the next apex of the arch of the swing, pulling the bayards’ line taught. The blade was not sunk deep enough into the tree to be able to handle the strain, and slips loose from where it was entrenched. Pidge acts fast and recalls the blade back to its holster before hastily shooting another branch ahead. They barely make it, disrupting their momentum halfway. They almost come to a standstill after a few futile swing attempts.

Pidge begins to grind their teeth in pain; their grip on the bayard is becoming considerably weakened and their arm is beginning to strain to the point of muscle failure. They need to land, and they need to do it now but most of the sturdy branches are out of reach at this point.

The brunette hazards a peek below them, swallowing down the anxiety of being so high long enough to scope the area. Thankfully there are plenty of massive leaves and petals of the nearby flora that decidedly look strong enough to hold their combined weight. Pidge carefully lowers them down to the closest one, a hearty, green leaf that looks like it came out of a fairy tale book. 

But looks can be deceiving. As soon as they set foot onto the blade of the foliage and release the bayard, it collapses under their weight, careening them towards next leaf below. They both curse very loudly at it. 

The duo then tumble down the foliage, desperately trying to get a foothold on any of the ones that they unceremoniously slap onto but the morning dew prevents any sort of traction. Pidge begins to wonder if this is what a pinball feels like.

The ride was over much sooner than expected, they both become acquainted with solid ground once again. The victims of gravity groan in pain when they land less than gracefully. 

“Well that was..That was something”, Pidge grunts out, massaging their abused bicep muscles. They hear the stampede still going strong somewhere off in the distance, parallel to them.

Allura lets out a groan nearby, rubbing her now sore rump. 

“I think that is enough adventure for one day”, she responds, tiredly. She dusts her uniform off.

“Tell me about it. I can’t believe we made it out of there, to be honest”

They lock eyes with each other for a second, sharing a moment of silence between them. Something in the distance croaks. A bird sings overhead.

Then they both start laughing hysterically to the point of doubling over; it is like a dam of emotion got a demolition treatment. Knees buckle, tears trickle. Pidge snorts, causing Allura to laugh even harder.

Drunk off the endorphins still running in their systems and the knowledge that they’re both escaped gruesome deaths, their bodies buckle from the barrage of giggles and both end up on the forest floor, rolling around. They scare off the bird.

By the time they settle down, both were heaving for humid air, abs aching, staring up at the thick tree canopy above. A few rays of light manage to escape the foliage ceiling. A serene sense of peace blankets the two. 

Allura lets out a pleased sigh, her anxiety leaving with it.

“I needed that.”, she says quietly, her voice hoarse. 

“Me too.”, they answer, turning their head to look at her. She turns hers as well to look back, a wide smile gracing her features. They happily mirror the expression.. Allura feels her mouth go dry again.  
.  
Pidge then sits themself up to take their helmet off, their thick hair fluffing back down into place. Naturally, it looks messier than usual.

“I had a helmet on. How did I STILL manage to get debris lodged in my hair?”, they complain, picking specs of _God-knows-what_ out of the light brown mane. Allura lets out a weak giggle and takes her own helmet off to see what the state her own hair is in.

It looks like the same pristine bun from earlier that morning. No messy locks. No debris. She receives a haughty scowl which makes her giggle even more. 

She is tempted to say something jokingly snooty to further tick the paladin off, but something catches the corner of her eye instead. Allura cuts her thoughts off, pointing over their shoulder excitedly, mouth open in awe. Pidge looks around up to see the commotion: a clearing that opens up to the most picturesque scenery they’ve ever witnessed first hand. Their eyes widen.

A massive waterfall stands tall before them, crowned with the most lush, colorful foliage they’ve ever seen. Where the water is not gushing below, it is as clear as glass, beautiful blues taking residence at the bottom. Moss covered rock line the banks, soft and somehow inviting. 

Pidge felt an overwhelming urge to want to explore the place, and curiosity ultimately wins them over. They use their jet pack to hop onto one of the boulders on the banks. Taking a moment to feel the soft blanket of moss, they then lean forward to look into the clear surface of the water; they see their reflection. They look like an absolute hot mess, their face scrunches up. 

“How about we recoup and take a quick dip before getting up onto the canopies?”, Allura says beside them, her own crystal clear reflection looking and speaking to theirs. Pidge didn’t notice before, but even if her hair was on point, the rest of her looks wrecked and tired. 

“I’m sure a couple of minutes couldn’t hurt..”, they reason, more to themself than anything. 

They carefully place their helmet on the bank as the Altean already starts to lower herself into the water, breathable pilot suit and all. Pidge takes a moment to fruitlessly try and establish a connection just in case, before shucking off their armour until they are down to the black, meshy second skin of their suit. They leave the leg plating on and dematerialize their bayard.

The inventor slips into the water, appreciating the coolness it provides. They wade until mid- thigh deep, adjusting to the contrasting temperature. Bending over slightly, they start to cup water into their palm and run it down their worn arm to help relieve the soreness.

Allura looks over to see how her companion is faring and is greeted with a lovely sight. She never realized how much the under armor of the paladin suits hug the frames of the wearers until now; they don’t exactly leave much to the imagination.

She decidedly takes advantage of this fact.

Her eyes mindlessly rove over the gentle curves of the human, making her own body start to feel odd. A sensation she never felt before, towards anyone or anything, but curious of. She’s seen Pidge in clothes outside of their usual oversized ensemble before but the context was different back then. Her _feelings_ were different for Pidge back then.

Now she still isn’t sure how she feels for her green paladin, but she knows that it is well beyond any sort of sibling love that she felt for the first few years they’ve known each other. Pidge means much more to her than that now, an intimate context; a context that deep down, she admittingly wants to get to know better. To explore both mentally and possibly physically someday. She first felt the tugs of it the first night they bonded and she couldn’t help but crave more ever since.

And that is why she doesn’t feel nearly as much shame in the pit of her stomach as she should have as she watches the other, gaze lingering on their adorable features and storing them in a special recess of her mind for later. She realizes that Pidge may not possess an incredibly feminine nor masculine body by most standards but they are voluptuous in their own right; their slight curves and jagged planes only accentuate the whole package that is Pidge, and only serve to make them all the more endearing to her in every sense of the word.

She soon finds herself watching a stray stream of water slip off their shoulder and down their lean back, trickling with the curve of the waist and down a supple buttock. Her fingers twitch as she watches the droplet intently as it goes down, down, down, winding towards the center of their body. At that moment they bend over to cup some more water into their palms, the water drop rerouting itself and slipping between the apex of their legs before dripping down into the lake. Allura couldn’t help but stare at the view before her and wonder what humans look like down there-- No.--What _Pidge_ looks like down there--

But that is where she draws the line. She knew her thoughts went too far and she turns away, embarrassed with herself. She dunks her face into the water to cool herself down; she isn’t ready to face those feelings just yet. It is not how a princess acts, nor a commander. 

She represses those shameful, primal emotions for later introspection.

\---------------------------

“How is your arm feeling?”

“Still a little cranky, but otherwise alright. I’ll be fine”, Pidge answers, testing the limb by rolling it in its socket. They’ll be feeling it tomorrow, no doubt. 

The two ventured deeper into the forest once they were done relaxing at the beautiful lake. They find an area that looks safe enough to rise up, but enough surrounding branches to hook into in case trouble surfaces.

“Would you like me to give the hookshotting a try? I might be able to fare better than you to get us up into the canopy”, the Altean offers, curling an arm to plump up her arm muscles. Pidge chuckles at that before looking up at the forestry above them. It is a ways up and they weren’t too keen on using either arm for the upwards trek anytime soon.

“It couldn't hurt” They materialize their bayard once again and hand it over to the woman. She carefully takes it and experimentally grips it to get a feel for it before aiming and securing a line above them. 

Pidge approaches her, but she holds up a hand to stop them. They raise an eyebrow.

“One second, allow me to prepare. Hold my helmet, please”, she says, handing it over. They tuck it under their arm and watch her curiously. 

She slowly enlarges her body, most notably more muscular, just enough for the suit to not stretch too far. 

“Cheater..”, Pidge ends up mutters under their breath. Her growth stops, her body looks like something that could actually survive here, and Pidge couldn’t blame the butterflies going haywire in the pit of their stomach.

“There! That should make it much easier for us both”, she says stretching her new body. She holds out an arm to scoop the small human in her arm, effectively cradling them to her. They instinctively throw an arm around her neck, the other holding her helmet secure. A blush dusts their cheeks. 

“Let’s go!”, she hoots excitedly, zipping up the line and using the side of the tree to push off and away. Before Pidge realizes what is happening, she dislodges the blade and aims it to a tree farther away, swinging them deeper into the wilderness. With her newly acquired long legs she is able to gain momentum herself, flawlessly lodging and dislodging the blade for their gradual ascension. 

"Allura! What are you doing? We just had to go _up_!", they yelp out, alarmed by this change of events. They cling to her even tighter, screwing their eyes shut and bracing for disaster.

"My apologies Pidge, but it looked so fun when you did it! I wanted to have a try!", she answers, enjoying the scenery and tummy tingling sensation as they fly across the land with ease. 

When the embrace of death never comes, the paladin eventually opens their eyes up to see how well Allura is doing. It is a comparatively much more smooth ride than when they attempted it and understandably so. 

“You’re a natural at this!”, they holler over the wind whipping past them. It’s actually kind of fun when you’re not about to die.

Allura lets out a deep bellied laugh at that, Pidge could feel the shifting muscle against the mesh of theirs. They couldn’t help but be mesmerized by how the musculature of her arm expands and retreats as they swing closer to their destination. 

To them the ride wasn’t long enough when Allura selects a particularly sturdy branch to latch onto and scroll up on. She lands on a branch that could be used to just walk the rest of the way up. They instantly miss the close contact when Allura lets them down on to their feet before shrinking back to her original stature.

“That was quite a workout, I can see why it messed up your shoulder”, she says, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand from where the sweat had accumulated. “Right?”, they give their own shoulder a squeeze.

They activate their screen as they walk towards tree tops, careful of their balance. “Hopefully the signal will reestablish and we can get out of here”, Pidge says, ducking between massive palm leaves and haphazard vines. "I'm starting to get hungry."

The more foliage they pull to the side, the closer they felt to heaven. Like a light at the end of the tunnel of getting out of this hell of an oasis. The both of them are already exhausted and just want to go home at this point. The unrelenting heat and humidity are starting to get to them. 

“Almost….there.. “ the last wall of foliage is removed and they are finally bathed in the raw rays of the sun. But the moment didn’t last long. A loud screeching assaults both of their ears, Allura having to cover hers to keep from getting overwhelmed instantly. 

“What is that horrible noise!?”, Allura yowls, but her voice is drowned out by the shrieks. They soon realize that they are surrounded by very angry, very vocal creatures that are a fourth their size.

Pidge tumbles back under the foliage, dragging Allura with them. They both land in an ungraceful heap and almost fall off the branch. The shrieks are muted thanks to the wall of foliage.

“It seems we stumbled upon a territory of tribal creatures that look a lot like Earth lemurs and conveniently took residence on top of the canopy”, Pidge gasps once the ringing in their ears reside. They can already feel a headache coming on. Allura groans, rubbing her temples. 

“And it seems they also don’t welcome unexpected company”, she manages to grind through her teeth. “Hang on, I’ve got an idea.”

For the second time that day she morphs her body. She grows smaller and smaller, until she becomes a lump deep within her suit. Pidge has to bite back an adoring squeal when a she finds her way out of the collar and into sight. She looks almost identical to the little heathens above, save for the Altean markings adorning her cheeks, and the coloration of her eyes. 

“How do I look?”, she asks, doing a 360 for Pidges approval. "Think I can pass as one of them long enough to talk them down?" Pidge gives her a thumbs up because their hand was clamped around their mouth to prevent cooing at her.

“You stay here while I go up there and negotiate with them", Pidges' body freezes at this, "Watch my suit for me, and get your banard ready in case this plan goes south”, she commands in a shrill voice, dragging the suit closer to Pidge by their little teeth. 

“Are you sure about this? I don’t really like the idea of you going alone, Allura..”, they whisper cautiously, taking the suit and holding it close to them, as if dearly. They hold up their bayard, poised, and thrumming with electricity. They really didn't want to harm the small creatures, but their priority of keeping their princess safe, and the need to go home far outweighs that. In the back of their mind, they really wanted to take the time to befriend the things before they were extracted. They always had a weakness for animals.

“It’s the best shot we’ve got at the moment, unless you have a better plan. You can’t shapeshift, nor speak their language like I can thanks to my species' diplomatic abilities. Just make sure you’re close to the surface in case I need you, and we should be fine...I hope. They just seem riled up thanks to us invading their private space but I think they can be calmed”. 

Pidge nods reluctantly, but understandably. "Please be careful."

The Altean-turned-lemur takes a deep breath and fluffs up her fur before tentatively approaching the entrance and disappearing into the canopy surface above.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please just take this chapter. I can't tell you how many times I've had to revise, snip, revise again, snip some more, shuffle some things around--UGH. WHAT IS WRITING!? what am I dooiinnngg
> 
> None the less, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Now we get to see how Allura feels and hooo boy does she feel! Time to get that ball rolling!
> 
> Also SHOUT OUT to the lovely people to give comments, kudos, and views to this fanfiction. YOU ROCK! I am proud of how far its coming along and have so much more to share what is in my head. I love to read the comments i receive everyday and yearn to staple them onto my wall as I chug along this behemoth. Looovvee ittt


	5. Stranded (Part 2)

As soon as Allura was out of sight Pidge activates their visor so that they could see the heat signatures on the other side of the thick foliage. It helps quell their anxiety, but tension remains in the grip of their bayard. It was hard to keep track of Alluras own signature but Pidge keeps their eyes trained, focused. 

It wasn’t until they watch her approach and part the partition foliage to the side to poke her furry little head out that their anxiety began to subside.

“We’re good to go, Pidge! Come on up! They are excited to meet you!”, she beckons with a paw. They understandably hesitate and Allura reads her paladin like an open book. 

“Trust me, they are going to love you. They were just very surprised! They don’t get visitors up here in the canopies often and I told them all about us and how we got stranded here!”

A smartass quip was forming on the tip of their tongue, but when Allura grabs one of their fingers with an adorably small paw to yank, it effectively derails the thought. They snatch up Alluras outfit and protectively curl it to their chest on the way up.

As soon as Pidge enters the canopy it felt like the heavens themselves were shining down on them. They had to shield their eyes from the onslaught, but was never more grateful to bathe in the unbridled sunlight than at that very moment. The tree canopy itself seemingly spans out for days in every direction.

As soon as their eyes adjust they look down to see many pairs of eyes staring back at them, their collective gaze unwavering and full of awe.

“Er...Wow. They sure are cute when they aren’t screaming at you”, Pidge nervously jokes, waiting for them to pounce at any moment. “Are they going to chew me to the bone if I make a sudden move?”, they ask as slowly as they could, their unnerved voice starting to pitch.

Allura suppresses a laugh at this. “You’re fine, Pidge! They’re just very curious of you since they’ve never seen something like your suit before.”

Despite the fact their metaphorical hackles were still raised, the paladin trusts their commander enough to put down her outfit and flick some digits into the computer interface on their wrist. Allura chitters at the lemurs for a few seconds, telling them about what the human was about to do. They seem to understand.

After a few silent seconds melt away, Pidge groans at the continuous static. “My signals keep bouncing back. Let me see if..”

Seemingly forgetting about their adorable audience for the moment, Pidges starts to move around on the platform of foliage to search for a signal. They occasionally glance up at the sky, clearly perplexed. It is quite the sight to see for Allura at least, as the human is followed by a curious entourage of lemurs as if they were loyal puppies. They keep tripping and jumping over each other, trying to be the closest to the heels of the bipedal thing with a weird exoskin. 

“By the looks of it, Allura, there is some sort of powerful force field preventing me from giving AND receiving signals”, they say irritably as they fruitlessly wait for something to come up on the holographic screen.

“A force field with those capabilities? But..why for a place like this?”, the Altean asks out loud, her brain wracking for any sort of answer. “Perhaps whoever made those ruins we were in created it? We’ve trekked a fair amount of ground here and that was the only sign of any level of non-primitive technology we’ve seen”

“That’s what I am thinking”, Pidges answers, suddenly stopping in their tracks and causing a few of the lemurs to accidently bump in their legs. They couldn’t help but crack a smile as they look down from their monitor to see some of the more curious fuzz balls gather around their boots. They look back up at Allura. “But those ruins looked long abandoned and for all we know that force field is residual technology that managed to be powered up long after their departure. If they still occupy this planet, it seems they set that shield up because they didn’t want to be disturbed by anyone OR anything…”

“Then that means we either have to find the power source of the shield, or the beings who made it. Or anyone who would know anything, for that matter...But where would we even begin to look? The ruins with those rampaging monsters? Or maybe..”, Allura asks.

As soon as the question is asked, both pairs of alien eyes land on the wide eyed, furry entourage.

“Sooo--”, Allura starts in their language, gaining the attention of at least some of the lemurs, “Living up on this canopy for so long I’m sure you have your fair share of knowledge of the land. Is there anything or anyone you’ve ever seen that kind of sticks out to you?”, she asks carefully, not entirely sure how to get her point across to these things.

“Yeah, that”, an obviously younger one blurts out, pointing at Pidge. Allura face falls and the human raises an eyebrow at the gesture.

“No, no, I mean anything other than my paladin, please?”

They fall silent until the matriarch steps forth, her status evident by her tail riddled with far more rings than any of the others, and her size.

“Yes, we have, visitor. Every few moons a group of kind beings that we call our “Guardians” will travel through the winding paths under ours trees, as if looking for something. Of the times we’ve seen each other they were always very kind and give us gifts of food and take care of our sickly ones. We’ve observed them doing the same to other specie of the area as well. They’ve been doing this for many of our generations.”

Alluras ears perk up, causing Pidge to glance at her, awaiting translation. They then look down at the growing pool of inquisitive lemurs at their feet.

“Is it possible you can show us to them? I believe they can help us out of here!”

“Of course!”, the matriarch answers with no hesitation. Alluras heart lurches forward. “But they only come when the sun first comes up. We do not know where they go once they leave our territory”

“...Ah. That’s...Quite a time away, isn’t it?”, her ears falter. Frustration nips at the edge of her consciousness, the back of her mind full of scenarios of how the other paladins are faring with a chunk of the team vanishing in thin air. Probably poorly, knowing them.

“It is, visitor, but you are more than welcome to stay with us until the rising of the sun. We are very curious of you and your mate, afterall.”

Allura stiffens at this, clearly caught off guard. “Oh no, you misunderstand, they’re just my friend, my comrade--”

“They smell awfully a lot like you in a special way to not be”, the matriarch interjects knowingly. Allura was going to dispute, until she realizes that the complexities of aura bonding just might be outside the realm of the creatures understanding. Hell, even she had a few things to figure out about it. She heaves a long, drawn out sigh. 

“Well yes, Pidge, in a way, is very special to me.” Admitting this out loud caused a weight to be lifted from her shoulders that she didn’t realize she ever had. “And I happily accept your offer. Thank you are accepting us,”, Allura chitters happily. “If there is anything you need help with in the meantime-anything at all- please say the word.”

The matriarch noticably pauses, gears evidently turning in her head. Allura leans in with interest, fluffy ears at attention.

“There...are a few menial chores we could use help with, such as building nests and gathering high up fruits that shouldn’t be a challenge with your capabilities, but would your “comrade” be okay with these arrangements?”, the matriarch asks. “I don’t want to ask too much of you.”

The Altean looks over to where the human is, who is happily drowning in a sea of fluff balls that managed to drag them down onto their back and smother them. Delightful giggles manage to filter through the cuddle pile; Allura realizes that she hasn’t seen Pidge this relaxed in a long time without aura bonding involved.

“No..”, she smiles, “I don’t think they will mind one bit.” 

\--  
“I think Hunk would really like these”, Pidge says as they pop a rather plump berry into their mouth. “I think he’d get a kick out of making some pies out of them. What do you think, Allura?”, they ask as they pop in another.

“What I think is that you’re eating more of them than actually gathering for our hosts”, Allura jokingly scolds as she drops a few berries to the lemur holding a leaf basket below her. Pidge openly scoffs at her.

“Ooooh don’t you dare talk smack, I saw you trying to hide eating a whole palmful not even a tick ago”, they light heartedly retort, causing her to choke for a moment. She playfully throws a berry at them, causing it to bounce off their shoulder.

“Oooohhh, owww, that was my BAD one!”, they whine, rubbing where the berry had hit.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry, Pidge--”, she gasps regretfully, about to climb over to the paladin and survey the damage. Instead they start laughing, halting her.

“Haaaah, just kidding, it’s my other arm that is strung out”, they say, barely able to contain their giggles and shit eating grin. The princess takes a moment to process this, before grabbing a handful of berries and chucking it at the paladin, who happily returns the favor. It’s not long before they go on a full out war, with a few lemurs even chipping in to the mayhem.

\--

“Wow, what a day”, Pidge says as they unceremoniously flop down onto the comfortable leaf nest they helped make earlier that evening. A few lemurs join and park themselves nearby to sleep.

“I can’t say I expected things to go this way when I woke up this morning”, they pause, “but then again that goes for pretty much anything that happens to us...Which is practically everyday?”, they add, using their fingers to mentally count the instances of how many times at least one of them were in peril the past month alone. 

Allura chuckles as she lays herself next to them in a much more graceful fashion. “All things considered, I am glad we ended up here of all places. It’s… pretty nice”, the princess admits, drinking in the beautiful scenery around them. It is graciously illuminated by the buzzing fireflies and the three moons in the sky. “Although absolutely unwittingly, it feels wonderful to not be… ‘me’ for a few hours.”

“It does feel nice to just step back and realize there’s more to life than just Voltron missions and machinery”, the human says. “If it weren’t for Hunk practically dragging me to the market today, I would have just spent it trying to fix Green or upgrade something. But I’m glad I got the chance to meet some cute lemurs and spend time with you, at least.”

“Oh?”, the Altean asks, snapping her attention to the human. Pidge noticeably tightens up at this. “Err I-I mean, yeah. I mean-I can’t remember the last time we were on any sort of adventure alone together. It’s been a while. It’s nice...yeah.”, they say, reflexively adjusting their glasses as they stubbornly eye a firefly that was making its rounds with the nearby flora. They inwardly scold themselves for overreacting to the simple question. They really need to start keeping themselves in check.

Thankfully Allura just hums thoughtfully at this. They mentally sigh.

“You’re...Right. Before the night I showed you what aura bonding was, I don’t quite remember us ever really spending time together alone”, Allura answers honestly. She stiffens, realization hitting her like a train. “Listen-Pidge-I’m really sorry for that. I should have taken the time to get to know you much more. We’ve known each other for years and yet--:”

“Allura.”, a curt demand. This stops her in her tracks. “There is no need to apologize for such a thing. We are Team Voltron! We have a lot going on right now, we always did. The things we went through together as a team was enough for me”, they pause to give Allura a chance to speak before continuing. 

“Besides, it’s not like I ever really took the chance to hang out with you either. In fact, I’m not even sure what drove me to approach you that day. But I’m glad I did!”, they say. A huge grin splits their childish face and Allura couldn’t help but genuinely mirror the expression.

“Fair enough, Pidge, thank you”, she says with relief, her shoulders relaxing. “And since when did you start channeling your inner-Shiro anyway?”, she teases; she plucks a few lush flowers from a nearby tree and decides to place one behind her ear.

“Hmm..Since I was given a reason to, I guess. When it’s relevant. He really has been rubbing off onto me lately”, they say as they stare back up at the sky to admire the moons looming above them. 

“Or maybe you’re just maturing, Pidge”, Allura quips with a snort, playfully placing one of her flowers behind Pidges ear so they could match. Her delicate fingers linger when she notices that the vibrant petals match their honey eyes. 

What catches the Altean off guard is that she swears that time froze when their gazes lock; an unexpected yet familiar sensation starts to travel up her spine, making her feel more and more warm the longer they stared at each other. Was it her aura calling out for Pidge?

It didn’t help that the gentle glow of the environment really accentuates the charming features the small human has. Curious eyes, lush eyelashes, rounded cheeks, thick eyebrows, pointed nose. All of these characteristics suddenly seem so much more endearing and wonderful and amazing to her. The crawling feeling ends up taking residence in her heart, making it start to pound, as if egging her on.

Her mind fizzles out as she felt her aura struggle to take over. It makes its loneliness known, wanting to touch another again, to bond, to heal. It yearns for the connection the human in front to her can give; a connection that it wants to deepen and sooth. Its desperation encourages her to keep gazing into their eyes, perhaps to try and coax out their own aura. Confusion and fascination consume her. 

Allura almost feels herself get lost in the feeling, and begins to lean in, wanting to give in and entwine with them in more ways than one-

Until Pidge speaks up.

“You okay, Allura? Is something wrong?”, they ask in an alarmed tone. They instantly prop themselves up as if they were ready to catch her from falling. The fearful infliction of their voice instantly snaps her out of it, effectively crashing her back to reality. She owlishly blinks, chasing off any remnants of what just happened. 

“Pidge..Did you.. Feel anything just now?”, she asks slowly, barely above a whisper. Their eyes fill with confusion, trying to search her suddenly elusive ones for an answer.

“Feel..what?”

Something heavy and cold drops to the pit of her stomach. Her heart wanted a different answer, while her mind was trying to surmise why her aura behaved like that. She suddenly feels betrayed by her own self, for forcing her to acknowledge something she didn’t feel prepared for yet. 

And why didn’t Pidge feel it too? Is it because they are a human and has an inexperienced aura? Or perhaps is it because Pidge doesn’t feel that same connection she does? Her heart clenches at the latter and she suddenly feels oversensitive and overstimulated in a way she can’t comprehend.

That is when she realizes that she’s been emotionally blank for way too long and forces herself to answer. “Ah...Must have been a breeze or something”, she whispers quietly. Predictably this didn’t seem to quell the mounting concern the human undoubtedly has, but she didn’t have it in her to say much else. 

She hopes that they would just drop it, but instead they gently reach out for her shoulder. “Are you sure? Do you want to talk about it?”

The Altean winces at the touch, but not out of pain. The simple, reassuring hand on her shoulder suddenly meant overwhelmingly anything and everything to her. The flinch wasn’t lost to Pidge and they instantly recede their hand as if it was burned.

“Yes, I am fine Pidge, I’m sorry”, she manages to grit out, inwardly cursing herself as she felt a small pang of guilt for lying to her companion, but she knew she was getting ahead of herself. She really needs some room to think.

“...I’m going to take a dip in the hot springs. I’ll be right back”, the Altean deadpans, before standing up and taking her leave. The human doesn’t say anything, mostly out of shock, and watches her retreat into the foliage. Every part of them wanted to join her, but they knew better. They knew that for whatever reason she needs space, even if she is obviously distressed over something.

Once she is out of sight, thoughts race through their head. Did they accidently trigger her into a bad memory again? Was there something they were supposed to feel? Whatever the case may be, they didn’t like the fact that she seems to have receded into old habits of dealing with a problem all on her own with them around. They thought the both of them had gotten past that hurdle by now, but they all of people knew that some things just take time, and old habits are hard to break.

They try to take their mind off of it by defeatedly flopping onto their back to stare at the heavenly bodies above. They suddenly felt beside themselves, like an out of body experience, but damn if the view above wasn’t magnificent. Spacious, so many different splashes of hues, easily thousands of bright stars glittering about, in plain sight and yet so mysterious. So many secrets it keeps dear. They are immediately reminded of a certain beautiful Altean, so they try to steer their introspection into positivity. 

They realize that they couldn’t help but feel they have a thing for her, or at least a very unique connection. The past few weeks since the night Allura used aura bonding on them for the first time have been very interesting. Before, they never really had interest in anyone in any sense of the word. But now, it felt as if their world was turned up-side-down, but in a good yet baffling way.

They used to not mind if their friend needing some space for whatever reason, they knew it’s important to take a breather every now and again. But now...every fiber of their being is screaming to go with her and comfort her until the pain washes away. To hold her close and casually run their fingers through her hair, just the way she likes it. To talk about anything and everything to help distract each other from the never ending dangers they faced each day. Just a snippet of peace.

At this, they feel a blush creeping across their cheeks, and for the first time ever they try not to deny its implications. They knew they had a thing for the Altean, but who wouldn’t? Brave, intelligent, kind, selfless… She is the real deal. She wasn’t perfect, but with each passing day, Pidge couldn’t help but see her flaws as just a part of the package. They helped define her as the wonderful woman she is, not break down her character.

She could be very stubborn and headstrong at times… But she makes it work, usually. And at the moment, their heart aches just at the thought of her being alone. They know she can handle herself..But...space. She obviously needs it. They can not, and will not, force themselves onto her, no matter what. If she wanted to share what was on her mind, they knew she would do it. 

But that doesn’t stop them from wondering what is running through her mind. 

At the moment, they knew they couldn’t do much more than to be lost in their thoughts, silently awaiting her return.

 

\---------------------

The princess manages to find her way to the hidden hot springs that the lemurs showed them that afternoon to bathe in. Thankfully it was deserted, save for a few of the elders chittering amongst themselves in a far corner. She silently peels off her suit and enters the water without a fuss. 

She doesn’t know where to go from here, but she does know that a much more heartfelt apology to Pidge is in order as well as to start being honest with herself. Her heart dropped at the way they replied and reacted to her mess, and really wants to make up for it. But for now, she wants to know why she feels so uncomfortable in her own skin. While the steaming water of the spring helps lap away some of the anxiety, it still remains in the pit of her stomach. She knew the guilt won’t go away until she faces it head on. 

She knows she finds Pidge to be aesthetically pleasing in more ways than one. Their brand of charm is right down her lane and she finds their intelligence and curiosity captivating, much like the Green Lion they pilot. But she never noticed them take romantic interest in anything, but to be fair, neither did she. In her earlier years before the fall of Altea she was always too busy to really think about forging anything outside of acquaintance. The members of Team Voltron were really the first ones outside of that and she will admit that now Pidge is on a different level than the rest. 

The linchpin of this new interest, she surmises, is because of the aura bonding. She didn’t foresee the turmoil it would cause when she used it on Pidge that night. She just wanted to help them cope with something she was also having issues with..But now. It feels different. The more they bonded, the stronger it got. Perhaps to the point of almost having a mind of its own and wanting more? 

She doesn’t want to scare her paladin away, especially not now. Even if it meant that they’d end up just being close comrades. Aura bonding isn’t something you share with just anyone, and she knew it’d cripple her if they completely ceased suddenly. Their auras worked so well together, and is so beneficial for the both of them. She doesn’t want unchecked, near animalistic lack of control ruining that. It was obvious that Pidge didn’t feel what she felt those fateful seconds, and she didn’t know how to read that. 

She looks up at the canopy to see the stars peeking through the sparse openings of the leaves, as if seeking answers. She breaths in and out slowly, hoping to salvage anything from this. 

\---------------------

Pidge nearly jumps out of their skin when they heard her return. They sit up, watching her carefully approach and sit in front of them. 

“Pidge..Listen. I’m really sorry about earlier”, the Altean says. They could tell she really wanted to say more, but was hesitant. Moments pass, and they didn’t want to push her.

“Don’t worry about it, Allura, you obviously needed some ‘me time’”, they say, with a sad smile. It was obviously they wanted to say more as well, but were holding it in. Allura mirrors the gesture, silently thanking them. 

She turns herself until they are side by side and then they are bathed in silence. Pidge hazards a glance at her after a few moments, noticing that she was sitting up with her knees pulled closely to her, her gaze focusing on the heavens above. It is obvious that she is lost in thought, her dazzling eyes glossy with contemplation. 

They really wanted to reach out to her and at least hug her or something, but they remember the last time they tried any sort of physical comfort hours before. They are willing to wait it out until she is comfortable with them again, but they can’t stand how the air between them has shifted. Normally they would shake this off and distract themselves to forget about it, but this is Allura. She is still in pain, they can tell. They decide to break the silence.

“Sometimes I wonder if other universes have their own astrological zodiac signs”, they blurt out the first thing that came to mind with abandon. They inwardly wince at how stupid and irrelevant the question is but when the Altean shifts to look at them, and hums quizzically, their heart leaps in victory. They let out a breath of air they didn’t realize they held in. 

“Back on Earth, some people think that their personalities are based on which stars were in the sky on the day they were born. They then constructed characters around those star formations and made in depth stories about them. There’s more to it, but that’s the gist.”

“That’s pretty silly, but cute. Humans have such active imaginations”, Allura says, Pidge laughs at this.

“What? Alteans never had anything like that? At all?”, they ask, genuinely curious. 

“Not quite! Our own solar system behaved a little bit differently than yours, and culturally we never adopted any practice that had to do with birthday correlation. A few of the planets we visited, however, were fond of it, but none of them did it by the celestial bodies. That’s a new one to me.”

Allura gazes at the stars above them, complementing what she just said.

“You know”, her voice is a sober whisper, “I’ve been living with a pod of humans for quite a few years and now just discovering how fascinating the species as a whole actually is. How daring, passionate, and inquisitive they really are...They remind me a lot of my own people, actually”

“How so?”, they ask with a hint of amusement, caught off guard. They reposition themselves to be on their good side while supporting their head up with one arm as a pillow.

“Granted my race was much older, and much wiser through the eons of trial and error they went through until their last living breath. But humans.. You’re still so young. So new. You are so eager to break free of your home planet and explore the universe purely for the sake of discovery just like we were. It’s...nostalgic in a way.” A pregnant pause.

“Nothing could ever replace my race but..The more I learn about yours the more hope I have. The legacy of mine has ended but yours has just begun. And I hope that one day they will have the privilege of discovering the universe like we once did without the harrowing presence of the Galran Empire. Come to think of it, that documentary you showed me a while back--”

Pidge is so glad to share this moment with Allura. As much as they yearned to hug her close, they are just happy that she is still talking so passionately to them, it’s almost as if that stumble between them never happened. They remain silent as she continues to ramble her heart out, chipping in every once in awhile to affirm something. 

“Pidge… Would it be okay if I had a human built computer?”, she asks suddenly.

“Oh..Like the one I helped Hunk build a while ago?”, they ask, lifting their head off their arm pillow for a second.

“Yes, please! That’d be lovely. That way I can have a personal computer for specific intellectual pursuits”, she asks rather giddily. They honestly couldn’t say no to that, and they didn’t.

“Sure! I’ll even ask Hunk if he wants to help out to give me a hand. But why do you want a more human made one? Don’t you have enough of the Altean ones laying around in the castle?”

“While this may be true, I want it to feel more..authentic.”

“Authentic? Pch. I remember that it wasn’t too long ago that you thought our technology was primitive”, they snort, amused. 

“It is, but in an endearing way!”

“Yeah, sure, sure”

\--

After hours of conversing about anything they could think of, they were finally tuckered out enough to settle down. But even as time droned past, Pidge couldn’t sleep a wink. Their body is tired, but their mind still wide awake and the sheer humidity of the forest wasn’t helping. They shift until they are on their back, letting out a heavy sigh. It was still dark out so they couldn’t tell when morning would come. How many suns did this planet have again? Two?

“You’re awake as well, Pidge?”

They almost jump out of their skin for the second time that day at that, their heart hammering in their ribcage as if it was going to make a run for it. 

“Y-yeah. Are you having trouble sleeping too?”, they ask much more meekly than intended. Allura shifts until her back is no longer to them. 

“Yes…”, she breathes out tiredly. She squishes her cheek into her arm pillow, eyes at half mast and agitated. Minutes pass.

“So...What now?”, Pidge asks rather ancily. They feel their fingers instinctively twitch to reach out to her, but do no more. They knew exactly why they couldn’t sleep, but they weren’t about to admit it to her.

Allura on the other hand could easily sense that the human was struggling. She really wanted to reach out and bond their auras, since her own is already tapping on the figurative glass to go outside and play. But she feels too emotionally vulnerable for it. Too unchecked. 

And yet...She felt she owed them something. To at least try. This is Pidge, of course, and if she had to call things off early, she knew they’d understand. It couldn’t hurt to try, right? She bites her lip.

“Would you like to…bond...to help each other sleep?”, she is almost afraid to say the actual term, and instead extends her arm out to the paladin invitingly. Understandably they hesitate, not sure how to read the mixed signals, but in the end they gladly take the hand and draw closer to her until their bodies are about to touch. It was obvious they wanted more than to just lay next to her, but were holding back probably because of earlier. She is thankful for this.

The simple hand touch doesn’t affect her like it did hours ago, but she is still wary. She slowly closes her eyes and Pidge does the same, allowing their auras to finally break out of their shells and mingle. 

But it didn’t take long for Pidge to realize that Allura was really holding back. They’ve never felt her aura act so strained, as if leashed. It seems to simultaneously want to bond and yet...not. Their weakling aura tries to coax it into bonding properly but its movements are far too calculated and jagged. The bond feels so incomplete and is starting to stress Pidge out more than anything. They are starting to feel actual pain all over but they soldier on and try not to react to it for her sake. They wanted to help shoulder the burden.

Unfortunately Allura feels every bit of this. She is concentrating so hard on making sure her own aura doesn’t overwhelm the other that the anxiety and stress was filtering through their bond and feeding into Pidge by waves. Guilt sets into her like a brick, and chokes when it too is unwittingly transferred to her companion. She tries to hold back, but her limit is about to break.

But it is the human who has had enough and breaks the bond. The Altean can feel her whole body seize up in horror and remorse. As soon as the physical contact was retracted her own aura felt as if it did something wrong and hurriedly retreated back to her with its tail between its legs. It wasn’t supposed to end like that, it’s not how it works. But when Pidge hurriedly sits up, and looks her dead in the eye she knew she screwed up.

“Allura...Did I do something wrong? Please tell me!”, they ask desperately. “What did I do? I’ll never do it again, I promise!” 

They didn’t realize how much in trouble she was with herself, but those crucial moments gave them all the push they need to finally ask. The entire time it felt like needle prickles were going at it all over their skin and they knew this was only a fraction of what she felt. They told themselves over and over again to never push, but their desperation spoke for them. Why is she suddenly so secretive? 

“You need help! You don’t even have to tell me why you’re hurt, just please let me help in any way I can..”, they ask, obviously exhausted, their voice suddenly hoarse and clenched. 

And the Altean wishes she could give them a heartfelt answer, but to be honest she doesn’t even know what’s really going on now. She knew she was holding back, but she never would have guessed that it’d go so haywire, so quickly. Normally she has a better handle on it.

“I...I don’t know Pidge. I don’t know. Please.. Understand”, she murmurs, her face scrunches up in concern. “But once I figure it out, you’ll be the first person I tell…but I don’t want you to get even more hurt”, if only they knew the implications of her words.

It is obvious that they didn’t ‘buy’ any of this, but she had nothing else to offer. The human slumps in defeat, looking down. She can see really dark circles under their eyes and the exhaustion of their body language even in the dim moonlight, and she didn’t remember any of that before the attempt. Did she do that to them!? A splash of dread trickles down her spine.

“Allura… Why? Why won’t you let me help you? I’d do anything for you. Please..”, they sluggishly lift their head to meet her gaze. “Please.”

“Pidge, I…”, she doesn’t know what to say, she just blurts out whatever her heart wants, “I am grateful you want to do so, but this is something I need to figure out myself. I hope you understand.”, she answers tensely. 

“Allura...If I ever hurt you..Or if any of your pain is my fault, you’d tell me...Right?”, they ask, looking down at their balled fists. The knuckles are white.

“....Yes. Of course.” She looks away, obviously unsure of herself.

The human lets out a long drawn sigh through their nose, their pain leaving twinkling sensations all over their body. They then gently take one of her hands and lift it to cup their own cheek; this catches her attention.

“Allura…Please do me a favor, and knock me out”, they croak out. 

They aren’t surprised that she is utterly shocked and hurt by their suggestion. She looks like she is about to decline, but their drained, sorrowful gaze pins her. 

“.. _Please._ ”

Their body feels abused, overtired, and...aged. Nothing feels right and their mind won’t shut up. They just want to escape. Allura acutely picks up on this; she doesn’t need an aura bond to figure out why.

“...Okay”, she murmurs wistfully. 

“Thank you.”

They manage a small smile before their consciousness is whisked away with the flash of a blue light. She took a moment to just stare at their unconscious body, her hand still cupping their cheek. They are completely lax, nothing how they were moments before. 

And that is when the gravity of the situation slams onto her. She curls herself around them, as if protectively, burying her face into their thick hair, and muttering sorrowful apologies upon deaf ears. She honestly didn’t know where they would go from here. Does Pidge still even trust her? She couldn’t help but not only feel like a bad leader, but also a bad friend, and comrade. She failed them.

Her own body still feels prickles of pain from the failed bonding, regretting ever giving it a chance. If only she had known it’d end up like this. If only she had steeled herself for just a few seconds after she accidently gazed to far into their soul earlier, and hadn’t retreated to the springs afterward. If only she hadn’t made a big deal out of it, they might be okay right now.

The black patches, the lethargy, the muscle tension..She wanted nothing more than to undo all the damage she caused them. But she knew that trying to aura bond with them again right now has so many levels of no. Instead, she soothingly runs her free hand up and down their back and spine, trying to ease away the pain. When she felt the muscles ease up enough, she untangles herself from her Paladin and then looks up to the still dark sky above. She suddenly feels envious of their state, to not feel pain of the body or mind. Then she wonders if the magic she used on them can work the same way on her--she’s never thought of using it like that, nor has known any other Altean she knew mention it. She never had a reason to.

Her question is answered when the universe and its entirety goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHA...!! YOU THOUGHT THIS FIC WAS DEAD DIDN'T YOU??? YEAH WELL..You have every right to assume that.
> 
> In any case, I'm not gonna lie, folks!! I was originally going to just drop this whole clusterfuck of a fic but you wanna know what kept me AWARE that I even have a fic to finish? The trickle of kudos and comments that kept coming in!! THANK YOU to those who took the time to comment and kudos this work. Seriously. If it weren't for you, I would have drop kicked this into the sun by now!!
> 
> None the less though, the reason why this particular chapter took so long once I knew I was going to pick it back up again is because I had to rework A LOT of elements in later chapters. Did a lot of shuffling, adding, snipping..the whoooole gambit, while still sticking to the CORE of the project. This fic just got way bigger than I ever thought it would and I am still pretty excited to share this story in my head with you!! I hope at least some of you still remember this fic exists and that you enjoy yourselves. =)


	6. Stranded (Part 3)

Pidge wakes up groggily, pain shooting down every inch of nerve they have in their body. They can’t quite remember the last time they woke up in so much pain that wasn’t a result of a grisly battle beforehand. In short, they felt like utter shit. They go to sit up until they feel a weight throughout their whole body. At first they think it is some sort of manifested stress but is relieved when they realize they are just covered in sleeping lemurs. They quietly chuckle, rousing a few of the kits.

After carefully extracting the critters, the green paladin looks around to scope their surroundings. Everything is bathed in the new mornings’ light, and the lingering dew of last night provides a glittering sheen. That is when their gaze falls upon the Altean next to them, who is still snoozing away. They feel a pang of envy shoot through them to see her face so quiet and serene; their own sleep was everything a nights rest shouldn’t be. 

They take a moment to gaze longingly at her as their fingers itch to reach out and touch for the millionth time. For a split second they even weigh the pros and cons of blissfully curling up against her for a few minutes, but last nights memories screech that to a halt. Instead, they drag themselves away from her and to the nearby spring to refresh and recollect. A few lemurs decide to follow.

“Seems we all had the same idea, huh?” the green paladin asks their company, who look up at the human in turn. Their fuzzy little ears and curious eyes were enough to take an edge off their anxiety. At the edge of the pool Pidge begins to shed out of their paladin armor but almost regrets it immediately. They groan audibly when they begin to peel off the exoskin from their bad shoulder; it is angry, inflamed, and bruised. It’s an injury that may warrant a trip to the medic stasis capsule when they finally get out of here.

Thankfully shedding off the rest of the paladin armor is near euphorical. While they are very thankful for the protective versatility of the suit, nothing really beats feeling nature’s blessings on bare skin. They give their body a moment to breathe while in the buff before slowly lowering into the boiling water. It is perhaps a little too hot, and a little too humid to hang out in a spring but Pidge could really appreciate the lathing heat ebbing away the pain. The pins and needles already begin to secede as they slowly sink until they are up to their chin. They give their mind a rest.

But of course, the inner silence doesn’t last long. Thoughts soon filter back into their mind. The team back on the castle, of Hunk, of Green Lion...

And then, naturally, they eventually lead to Allura. 

The feelings brought up stir like the water around them. Guilt, hurt, adoration, and yearning, all churn around their mind simultaneously. It almost makes them sick. They weren’t even entirely sure why they were making such a big deal out of this, but the anxiety within them refuses to let go. It reminds them that they messed up something amazing between the two of them, a something they ended up really looking forward to for the past few weeks.

“Quiznak…”, Pidge suddenly didn’t feel good. Their stomach is acting weird again, and they knew it wasn’t because of something they ate. They crawl out of the water until hip height to lessen the heat intake to lean their torso onto a flat rock that slopes gently out of the springs. The relief is almost instant; the cooling effects of the shaded stone in contrast to the soothing heat is doing wonders on their body. Careful of their injured shoulder they create an arm pillow with their good one for their head for further comfort.

“Much better..”, they mutter as they watch some baby lemurs play nearby. With the birds singing up above, and the filtered rays of sunshine gleaming down on them, Pidge couldn’t help but feel their eyelids start to get heavy. Before they knew it, they start to lull back to sleep.

\--

Allura wakes up with a start. She sits up while cradling her pounding head, groaning in regret. Everything feels like lead, even her thoughts somehow. She takes a moment for the pain to subside to a tolerable level before even thinking about cracking an eye open. Her whole body recalibrates and remembers everything that happened within that last 24 hours. She notices a certain presence is missing.

“P-Pidge? Are you there?”, she instinctively asks as loudly as she dares. No answer. “... _Pidge?_ ” 

Allura wasn’t sure if she should be worried or not. They didn’t exactly have a heart warming night last night and the human is probably disappointed or even mad with her. She wouldn’t blame them if they decided to vent somewhere, especially if they are in any sort of condition like she is in. She can’t put her finger on it, but she senses that they are in no danger anyway. She tries to focus more on this supposedly newly acquired ability but pain takes precedence. The sense goes away as soon as it came.

Once her head is done swirling from sitting up so fast she staggers to her feet. She immediately regrets this and the ache in her head becomes thrice fold. Grunting at her genius decision, she begins to stumble her way to the hot spring. She thanks every single star in the universe for the fact that she is able to retrace her steps from last night with relative ease.

The first thing Allura sees when she shoves her way to the spring is a very pale, very muscled back. She freezes where she is, surprised to see her paladin in such a position. Given the fact their whole suit is in a pile on the bank they are resting on, it wasn’t hard to realize that the human is completely naked. Another second of staring tells her that they are blissfully fast asleep, presumably from the lull of the waters they are half submerged in. Perhaps they had the same idea of pain relief as Allura did. 

But Allura isn’t even minding her own pain at the moment-- _oh no_ \--because she can’t pry her eyes off the view before her. It is nothing like it was yesterday. Black mesh was in the way but now..Every inch of skin is on display from the hip up. Due to Pidge’s tendency to gravitate towards baggier clothing, she never really noticed the true definition of their musculature and she must admit she is pretty impressed. All of the paladin training they’ve done over the years seems to be conditioning the small human rather well. 

Her eyes then wander to the hint of a swell of breast peaking from under an arm from her angle, her own body yearning to do more than just look. Ever her aura starts to bubble from deep within, and not just in an innocent way. An unconscious noise of approval slips out of her mouth at this, but she instantly slaps a hand over her mouth, shattering the veil of fantasy. Everything about this moment is absolutely inappropriate. 

Trying to backtrack herself and high tail it out of there from embarrassment, the princess goes to move but the unsteady gravel underfoot crunches under her weight and collapses. She yelps loudly when her center of gravity yanks towards the spring, causing her to slip off the slope and into the steaming waters below. The resulting splash jolts the human awake and a few lemurs scuttle away in surprise.

“WHA-?”, the human squawks, whipping around towards the commotion. They blindly reach for their glasses off the bank just in time to watch Allura struggle to find her footing before standing up indignantly. She is dripping from head to toe in hot water and looks positively done with herself. 

“...Allura?”, Pidge asks, their voice rusty with sleep. The princess would have found it heart poundingly adorable if she wasn’t so disconcerted. Instead, she stands at attention at the sound of her name, her mind racing to try and find an excuse for ruining this peaceful moment that Pidge deserved. She swears she feels her blush spread all the way down to her toes, but she partially blames the heat of the hot springs for it. 

She clears her throat, turning herself away from the nude human. “I-I am sorry I disturbed you, Pidge, I was just going to take a quick dip. I didn’t know it was already...ah.. preoccupied here”, she manages to squeak out. She pauses, because she wants to let out a barrage of well needed apologies for not just now, but on the behalf of last night as well. But she clenches her jaw shut. She will do so at a much more appropriate place and time.

Pidge, on the other hand, blinks slowly at her outlandishly meek behavior. But when they feel a convenient waft of air caress their very heated, very naked body, realization hits. They look down to see they were only halfway submerged, the top half exposed for the world to see--Including Allura.

_Oh._

With a nervous laugh they crumble until they are back up to their chin with the water. “I...er..Forgot about that..Sorry. I’m done here anyway, I’ll get dressed real quick so you can have your turn.”, they offer. In the back of their mind they were game with sharing the pool together, but they kick that thought out the metaphorical door due to her obvious discomfort. 

“No need to apologize, Pidge, I was the one intruding. I’ll wait out here”, she says curtly, not daring to look anywhere but forward. She carefully exits the pool and into the thick foliage to give Pidge privacy.

The green paladin honestly wasn’t sure what to make of this. They vaguely remember when they were on Earth during gradeschool they would shy away from all the girls in the locker room when changing clothes. It always felt really awkward for them to be in such an environment, even if they did have the same body parts. But here? With Allura? The brand of self-consciousness is much different. They find themselves more worried about Allura liking what she saw, rather than just the Altean getting an eyeful.

Their body isn’t exactly boisterous in any sense of the word, they have been building themselves since teenhood to be exceptionally lithe due to the nature of their bayards agile capabilities. But maybe, just maybe, it is within the realm of Allura’s interest? This is the first time she has ever seen them in such a state afterall, and her reaction wasn’t exactly a disgusted one..

‘As if’, they end up thinking wistfully, ‘she reacted that way probably due to deep rooted royalty mannerisms.’ They immediately dismiss weirdly intimate daydreams that try to arise as they hurriedly get dressed for Allura to have her turn. 

\--

“Are you sure this is the meeting spot?”, Pidge asks, glancing up at the sky to try and gouge the time. They then remember the unique solar system this living hell is a part of. 

“The Matriarch herself said this is where they usually cross paths, and they’re supposedly timely people”, Allura answers, glancing up from peeling her citrus breakfast. The human mumbles something under their breath, rolling their bad shoulder gingerly in its socket.

“How is your shoulder, by the way? It looks like you’re in pain just thinking about it”, the princess inquires with concern when she sees them wince.

“It’s...not great. I think it warrants a trip to the stasis capsule for a few hours when we get back”, Pidge answers, “The sooner we get out of here, the better”, the human groans, picking at their own ration of fruit. “Go figure the ONE time I didn’t bring my specialized medic capsules..” They offer a lemur kit a half of their citrus slice before popping the other half into their mouth. 

“Hopefully we’ll get out of here soon, and mend your shoulder in no time. They should be here any tick now...”, the princess offers.

Pidge glances over her shoulder. “Hey, speak of the devil!”

“The who?”, Allura asks before twisting herself around to see where they were looking. 

Emerging from the foliage is an insect-like being, somewhat resembling a praying mantis centaur. They have a large stature with mandibles, six legs, thorax, and antennae. Otherwise they have quite a few humanoid features such as stylized hair, flexible hands, and a torso nestled on top of their pure bug half. They wear something akin to that of a toga that clings to their spindly, jagged limbs. Crystal jewelry swoops around their neck rather elegantly. They are also wearing a large rucksack, brimming with who knows what. Following right behind them is a small squad of more bug humanoid centaurs who are immediately flocked with excited lemurs.

But as soon as their eyes lay on Allura and Pidge, they collectively freeze and gasp. They back up a few steps, clearly perturbed.

“How did...you get here?”, the largest of the insectoids squeaks out. She gets herself between the other insectoids and the duo as if protectively. 

“I...We were..Teleported here by a ...tea kettle?”, Allura answers, realizing how ridiculous she sounds. “I touched it and the next thing we knew we were stuck here. We are not here to hurt you, I promise”, she reassures, putting both of her hands up peacefully. 

As if a hivemind, all of their eyes widen collectively, but their postures slighten. “Where did you get it!? Do you still have it?”, the large one presses frantically, instantly scuttling up to the Altean. They both flinch at the sudden movement, but stand their ground.

“Uh, well--We found it in a market the other day--But we accidently broke it and it turned into dust..”, the princess tries to answer as calmly as she could. The insectoid whips her head around like an owl to look at the others, who give her varied reactions. 

“I….See”, she says, slowly swiveling her head back and staring ratherly solemnly at the perplexed pair. “Do you happen to know where said market obtained it?”

“No, but the shopkeeper did mention it was from a ‘forest long dead’, and it was the only item like that in the whole store”, Pidge pipes in. They all hum at this.

“Go figures..And you said it teleported you. Does that mean when you touched it, it started to glow?”, the bug inquires further.

“Yes, actually!”

The insectoid cocks her head at the two curiously. “Interesting...alarming, but interesting... “, she ponders.

“I’m sorry but, are we trespassing?”, Allura speaks up, trying to address the hanging question. “We didn’t mean to trespass, we are only trying to get off this planet as soon as possible.”

“...Yes, and no”, she answers hesitantly. She looks down for a moment, shifting her mandibles, as if decisively. “If you were able to get inside that way..It must mean something.” The duo glance at each other.

“Who ARE you?”, the smallest of the group blurts out, peeking their head from behind the large one. But when Allura glances at them, they instantly hide themselves from view. A few of the seemingly older insectoids whip their heads at the younger one, as if chastisingly. 

“I am glad you asked! I am Princess Allura, and this is Pidge. We are members of Team Voltron-”

“Team Voltron!? _THE_ Team Voltron!?”, they all squeak out in chilling unison, their antennae at attention. The largest one immediately looks pompously flustered somehow. 

“Oh goodness me, how did I **not** recognize you immediately? It must be our lucky day! You see, you saved our home, The Last Sanctuary, from the clutches of the Galran Empire!”, she squeals as if meeting a celebrity in person. Which she technically is. 

“The Last Sanctuary? Isn’t that where...”

“The last remnants of civilizations destroyed by the Galran Empire congregate, yes”, the centaur finishes for her. 

“But if that’s your home does that mean..?”

The large one takes a step back solemnly, her enthusiasm melting away instantly. “The Galran Empire decimated the U’llians many millennia ago. We are all that is what is left of them. Mere shells of what those proud people used to be.”

“I..Know how that feels.. I’m sorry.”, Allura manages to say despite the anger bubbling in her stomach. “My planet was destroyed long ago, most of my people along with it. You have my condolences.”

“And you have ours, Princess. But for what it is worth, every citizen of The Last Sanctuary thanks you for what you have done those years ago. Many civilizations given a second chance would have died out for good if it wasn’t for your efforts...” She pauses, a light bulb lighting up above her head. 

“AND you know what? We will gladly give you a ride to The Last Sanctuary..”, she takes a moment to glance at the rest of her tribe before continuing, “But if it is not too much to ask.. Is it possible you can lead us back to where you were teleported to? That place can possibly lead us long buried U’llian heritage.”

“Of course! If I was in your place, I would hope someone would help me rediscover my culture”, Allura answers enthusiastically. 

\--

 

“ _My apologies_ for springing such a request on you both, but I hope you know that the rally point you were accidently teleported to means a lot to us”, the large insectoid admits as they slowly make their way through the jungle. “U’llians used those rally points to gain access to deep, underground fortresses that were well hidden from the Galran eye. That ‘tea kettle’ is one of the many everyday objects they imbued to be able to secretly one-way teleport to them so they didn’t leave a trace.”

“I’m just thankful we have a way out of here” says Allura, delicately navigating through a particularly difficult cluster of mega fern leaves. “By the way...I never quite caught your names..?”, she asks with a faint blush, embarrassed for having not asked sooner. 

“Oh! Goodness. My apologies, Princess--I am Tk’ll, the leader, and this is my tribe!”, she says as she gracefully sweeps her arm towards her tribesmembers, as if proudly displaying them. “Hik’ll, Mf’ll, Er’ll, Dov’ll, and of course, Bm’ll!”. Each respective centaur flicks their antennae at the acknowledgement, clicking their mandibles excitedly. “This planet was once known as Rk’lla before it fell prey to the Galran Empire.”

“But...If this is your home planet, why do you reside in The Last Sanctuary and not here?”, what she didn’t expect is all the U’llians suddenly jerking en masse. 

“Ohhh, ahh..”, Tk’ll pauses as if wracking her brain, “Yes! The Galran Empire wiped the surface this planet clean when the U’llians revolted against their selfish deeds,” she answers rather theatrically.

“But thanks to the Last Sanctuary graciously providing resources we’ve been able to slowly restore this planet to it’s former glory over the past few millennia. We still have a ways to go, however”, she says, pointing to the rucksacks each of them have on their back.

“You restored ALL of this from nothing!?”, the Altean says in awe, looking up at the trees as if it was the first time she ever saw them. 

“Yes!”, Tk’ll proudly answers. “No one else has set foot on this world because we had many precautions to prevent it. We’ve been rebuilding it alone as it would have been.. unbeneficial to have help. Also, the relics we imbued have a specific thumbprint to our spiritual energies. So, needless to say, you two are quite the surprise, but a very, very pleasant one for us, members of Voltron.”

“That explains why you were so confused when you first saw us”, Allura says, putting the pieces together. “I am Altean, and our kind is able to harness spirit energy and adapt it however we need it, so that makes sense.”

“And what about you, Pidge?”, Tk’ll asks preeminently.

“Err, me? I don’t really have those capabilities. I’m human.”, they admit, internally flinching by how lame they made all of humanity sound. 

“But you teleported here with Allura. If you didn’t have any level of spirit manipulation, you would have not been accepted by the imbued tea pot relic”, she presses.

They honestly don’t know what to say, and tries to look for Allura for back up, but she honestly can’t offer more than an earnest shrug.

“I see. The only way in or out of this planet is either our specialized ship….Or apparently by teleportation of an ancient, misplaced relic. We have a very strong force field set up so that our planet is hidden from many facets of detection.”

“I KNEW there was a barrier! No wonder why my signals kept bouncing back”, Pidge exclaims. “That’s some pretty impressive technology you got there.” Tk’ll snorts at this.

“Thank you..U’llians may be considered archaic by most standards, but _~I~_ like to keep up to date.”

\---

The group has been traveling for over an hour, chattering about anything and everything. Thankfully the stampede left behind a huge trail that is hard to miss. They end up following it like railroad tracks.

“It should be somewhere close by now--There!”, Pidge says, surveying the verdant void landscape around them. Save for a few upturned boulders and fallen trees the place is completely flattened. “The damage is still fresh, but I can recognize that massive tree from anywhere. It’s got to be the one!”, they declare, pointing to the wrecked mess onto the other side of the barrenness. 

“That looks exactly like a place U’llians would hide”, Tk’ll chitters happily. “I am so excited, I can already this to be quite the turnout!”

“From here it seems the hole was unearthed. But I recall that it’s a long way down. We may have to--What the?”, Allura starts but instantly stops when she feels a deliberate draft of wind blow into her. She quickly finds herself standing in front of a mossy, living boulder that looks eerily similar to a creature capable of leveling a whole forest. It blends almost perfectly with its surroundings, easily mistaken for a mossy, aged boulder from most angles.

The group freezes in fear as they watch the creature slowly breath in and out, occasionally flicking its tattered, massive ears. They all collectively let out a breath they didn’t realize they had. It is fast asleep, and but is still between them and the safe haven of the tree. 

“That is a H’hkula, a very territorial creature that we had affectionately deemed as the ‘terraformer’”, Tk’ll chimes in, pointing at it with a slythe. “This must be a very old loner.”

“I can see why they’re nicknamed that..”, Pidge whispers jokingly.

“Luckily they are extremely heavy sleepers, so if we carefully edge around it we won’t disturb it. The only thing that can wake up a H’hkula from a deep sleep such as this one is--”

“That.”

They all look up where Bm’ll is shakily pointing and the U’llians squeak in horror. A few fat looking birds are perched on one of the upturned roots of the tree, jerking their heads around to get a good look at the ground. They start to clack their beaks irritably. 

“We call that an Alert Bird.”

Pidge audibly gulps. “I don’t think I want to stick around long enough to see why it’s named that-”

As if on queue, the birds rear back their heads and let out the most bone shattering choir of screeches. This scares the H’hkula right out of its sleep, causing it to jump and stumble around drowsily. It lets out a confused roar which sends big enough shockwaves to rattle the pebbles on the ground.

“Quick! We have to get out of here!”, Allura yells, whipping her head around to see any sort of safe spot in the trampled landscape. She then spots the upturned roots and notices that the fallen tree trunk is hollow enough to safely hide them. She hatches a plan. 

“Pidge, quick! Guide the U’llians into the hollow of the tree! I’ll distract him until you can guide them down using your bayard!”

The human looks at her, bewildered. They look like they want to stop her, their whole body tensing up. She reads this like an open book.

“Your shoulder is too injured to do much more right now, Pidge. I have to go alone. I’ll just shapeshift, and someone needs to lead them to safety”. The paladin sucks in a shallow breath.

“Promise me you’ll be careful? Please??" They ask as their honey eyes flit between her own bi colored ones, as if searching deep within her for affirmation.

“Yes, Pidge. Always”, she puts a reassuring hand on their good shoulder and starts to reform herself before they could give any more input.

The Altean arises from her piles of clothes in the form of an Alert Bird like a phoenix rising from the ashes. She soars straight up to the terraforming monstrosity and bellows at it to catch its attention before it notices the group. The thing steadies itself to look at the source of the noise, and instantly starts to clumsily run after her. When it comes close enough she whips herself right out of reach, annoyingly squawking at it to invoke the pursuit. 

As soon as the beast is distracted, Pidge grabs Alluras uniform and beckons the U’llians to follow as they bee line for the downed tree ahead. They clamber over the uneven wreckage with gusto, and when they approach the mouth of the hole the roots left behind, Pidge is relieved to see a sizeable gap that leads straight to the chambers below. Or rather theoretically. 

The paladin materializes their bayard, fiddles with some settings, and shoots it at the strongest looking root overhead. They don’t bother to take the time to double check the strength of the line. “Quick! One at a time, hold onto this and propel down to the bottom of the chamber. It’s quite a ways so be careful. When you’re at the bottom, let go so it’ll reel back up here and the next one can go down--Hurry!”, Pidge urges as they keep an eye on Allura in the distance. With the additional guidance of Tk’ll, the U’llians are fast learners and efficiently go by the instructions given. Tk’ll and Pidge are the last ones to go down.

“Pidge, allow me to assist you down”, she says, holding out a hand. “Your shoulder is injured, you shouldn’t go down alone in that state”, she offers.

“Thanks Tk’ll, I didn’t want to impose”, they admit meekly, reaching back.

But then the earth quakes and throws them both off balance. The human grits their teeth when they land on their tailbone and looks up to see what is happening. 

The terraformer thumped its tail which had caused the shock wave. Now it’s heaving its gigantic body onto its hind legs and throwing back its head to let out a deafening bellow. The sonic waves reverberate right through every bone in their body, leaving them tingling unpleasantly. Even when Pidge tries to cover their ears, it is no use; it goes straight to their head. Tears start to form at the corners of their eyes at the mounting pain and their stomach forcibly churns. They idly wonder why the hell the U’llians let this thing thrive on their manually reformed planet.

The human then steels themselves long enough to crank their head around to see a blurry Tk’ll on the ground nearby, and blinks again to see Allura flittering around frantically. She is clearly affected by the noise and seems to be struggling to remain aerial. But as soon as she is ripped from her bird form and plummets to the ground below, Pidge’s heart catches in their ribcage. They watch this unfold as if in slo-mo and somewhere, seemingly far away, Pidge hears Tk’ll gasp. They suddenly feel as if their whole universe is closing in on itself. 

Forgetting their own state, the human scrambles to get up even as their body works against them. They try to run after the princess to catch her but their sense of gravity fails them. A thin hand catches their wrist in time and yanks them backwards.

“Tk’ll, what are you doing!? LET GO”, they snap hoarsely, using every muscle in their body to struggle out of her grasp. They are so numb with adrenaline that they fail to realize the rumble under their feet, nearby pebbles clattering from the resonation. 

“No! Pidge! They’re coming! We must move NOW! What good are you if both of you are dead!?”

They did not hear her, and she knew this. She feels the blood running cold through their frantic veins as they tear into the earth below in attempt to get away and save Allura. Pidge, on the other hand, can feel their own heart beat grow louder with each foot Allura draws closer to her death and every millisecond that ticks by suddenly feels like their enemy. 

“Now, Pidge. NOW!”

Then, it feels as if everything happened all at once: Allura’s body connecting to the unforgiving terrain, a few leaves fluttering upwards from the sudden disturbance. Tk’ll gracelessly dragging the both of them into the labyrinth of the uproots for protection. A stampede of H’hkula charge past, origin and destination unknown. Pidge’s mind is drawing a blank. They can’t hear nor see anything past their own thoughts.

But there is a pulse. 

A foreign yet eerily familiar sensation. For some reason it calms them even as splinters of the tree surge forward with the creatures, showering them in debris and jolting them around. The paladin feels mysteriously at rest, tangible hope alight in their mind. Is it a byproduct of their aura? They are not sure, but they are not complaining with the soothing it provides. They lay rigid against Tk’ll, who is dutifully curling herself around the small human protectively; they await for the calm to come.

Seconds turn into minutes, minutes stretch into an eternity. It isn’t until the kicked up dust settles and the vibrations stop that Tk’ll finally lets up on her death grip. Pidge doesn’t waste a single moment: they break out into a run immediately towards where they saw Allura land. They mentally prepare themself for the worst, but something in the back of their mind tells them that everything is okay. _That she is alright._

The landscape is unsurprisingly warped differently. Gouges and dents litter the already scarred area, but it doesn’t deter Pidge in the least. They instinctively follow the pulse that is still active within them and doesn’t even bother to question it’s existence. They only let up on their feverish hunt when they hear a cough nearby. 

“Allura!?”, they yell, perking up and clambering towards the weak source of noise. Another barrage of coughs and a few groans give way and they find themselves in a small burrow that is littered with broken twigs and leaves. On the bottom of it lays a certain Altean who is covered with debris, but otherwise seemingly fine.

“ALLURA! You’re okay!” when the human jumps down into the foliage cushioned hole they are instantly by her side. They notice that the fallen debris from the first stampede may have been her saving grace. It is deep and narrow enough to be mostly unscathed. 

“Relatively..yes”, she wheezes. She tries not to let on how much pain she really is in. Her spine feels extremely stiff and uncooperative, neither of which are a good sign. She tries to sit up but doesn’t get far. “I’ve been through worse”, she groans, trying to be brave. 

“Still seems like a really rough landing though. But at least you’re alive”, their voice almost cracks as they gently lean over and cautiously put a hand on her shoulder in attempt to comfort her. Emotions fling around their head, clashing like train wrecks and graciously providing them with scenarios that could have happened to her. Everything suddenly feels like it’s dangerously mounting up and they can literally feel their self-restraint crumble to dust. They let out a choked sob at this.

A split second later, the princess is gathered into a careful hug, evidence of Pidge finally succumbing. They shudder with unshed tears as they gently hold her close, her intimate proximity already keeping their intrusive thoughts at bay. Of all the times for a member of Voltron to knock on deaths door, they feel that this was particularly distressing. They want nothing more than to throw all cautions to the wind and give the Altean the entire universe for some reason. Their unbridled aura pings Allura with exactly how they feel. 

In turn, she is surprised at the sudden embrace, but she doesn’t dare deny herself this. She doesn’t realize how touch starved she is until she clings to her paladin even more, leaving no space between them. She doesn’t even care about her injured wrist that helped break her fall, joy outweighs the pain. 

She doesn’t even care that her own aura tells Pidge how she was scared out of her wits the whole time the moment she fell out of the sky. But with every passing moment her fears slowly melt away into euphoria. It has only been a few days, and she already misses this dearly. The feel of their hair tickling her chin, their weight, their warmth. The way they sigh contentedly. She missed all of these little things and she couldn’t be happier that this moment came. Everything questionable that happened between them begins to wash away. In the back of her mind she wonders why now she has exceptional control over her own aura.

Suddenly, the pulse Pidge had felt earlier within them surges with warmth, cascading from their center. It spreads throughout their body before fizzling out like an electrical shortage. They suddenly feel...different. They experimentally roll their bad shoulder and feel that there’s no more pain. Confusion overwhelms them and they sit up to test their shoulder some more.

“Is something wrong?”, Allura asks when the paladin slips out of her arms, immediately missing the warmth. “My shoulder...It’s not in pain anymore..”, they say, absolutely baffled. The Altean blinks before decidedly flexing her injured wrist and noticing that it too is void of pain. Even her spine isn't grinding on itself anymore.

“How peculiar… I’m not in pain either…”, she whispers, amazed by her own set of miracles. “Did you..happen to feel that pulse before the pain left?”, she says cautiously, inwardly bracing herself to prevent another episode between them.

Pidge's eye brighten. “Yes! I did! What does-”

“Allura? Pidge? Are you okay?”, they both jump and look up at the ledge to see a distressed Tk’ll. “Oh! I am so glad to see BOTH of you alive! You're both _very valuable people_ you know--As for my tribe, they are safe and sound, thanks to you~”, she yells down to them, before pausing. “And Allura, this was on the ground. Would you like it back?”, she asks, holding up a discarded paladin outfit that indeed belongs to the Altean. “You might not want to leave something like this lying around..It could fetch a pretty penny in the wrong hands”, she informs with a saucy wink.

Pidge’s face immediately turns red at the fact that there is a very naked, very attractive Altean under them. Refusing a naughty glance, they get up and immediately start to scramble out, sputtering apologies the whole time. They try very, VERY hard not to think too much on how much more soft and lovely the princess felt compared their usual cuddles.

Allura, on the other hand, takes a moment to look down. Thankfully a few fallen leaves cover up some bits, but not all. She lets out a squeal and turns near invisible out of sheer embarrassment. 

Tk’ll watches the whole scene unfold, amused. _Bipedals sure are weird._

\---

After Allura gets dressed they all meet up at the mouth of the opened chambers below. As aforementioned her tribe is safe and sound, if not a little shaken. Pidge materializes their bayard.

“You two should go first”, Tk’ll insists, earnestly waving the two to go in front of her.

“Actually, Tk’ll..May Pidge and I have a moment? _Alone?_ ”, Allura gently asks, her eyes hopeful. “Besides, I’m sure your tribe would love to see that you’re alright, in the flesh?”

Tk'll pauses as if thinking this over carefully. Given no room to argue, she nods defeatedly. “Please make it quick. We’ll be waiting for you below. It’d be an honor to have you by our sides, after all”, she says before taking the bayard and slowly reeling down. They wait until the blackness of the void shield her from view. 

“....Pidge.. About back there..”, Allura starts but immediately realizes her wording is off when the human bashfully looks away, visibly uncomfortable. “You confirmed you felt a pulse when the pain left your body, correct?”, she asks softly.

“Yes, actually. Is that when your pain alleviated too?” 

Allura hums in affirmation, and looks back down at her healed wrist. Not a single bone, ligament, nor muscle is out of place.

“And..did you happen to feel a pulse after I fell?”, she ventures further, albeit tentatively like before.

“Yes! When I thought you died after falling it reassured me that you were okay..somehow. Did you feel it too? Do you know what it was?”, they ask, accidently giving her a barrage of questions. Allura isn’t sure how to describe it, but she feels her heart uncage somehow at this. It is so relieving to hear that they felt it too. Things are already looking up.

“I did. It was my aura calling out to yours, I think. It may be a sign that our bond is growing stronger still”, she tries to say this as casually as she could, but couldn’t help the dust of a blush arise on her marked cheeks from the implications. But she feels now is not the time to be modest, and it’s a good a time as any to have an apology in order. 

“And Pidge? I’m sincerely sorry for what happened last night. Aura bonding outside of blood is something I’m very unfamiliar with. It’s new territory that I don’t know how to tread, and I didn’t realize there’d already be a roadblock of how it works. I didn’t mean for it to hurt you so much last night, both emotionally and physically”, she confesses, trying not to be tearful. She knows she is only letting them know most of the truth, but she drowns out the part of her that has taken intimate interest in the small paladin. Later on, she begrudgingly notes, she’ll have to have a talk with Coran.

“Allura..Your apology means everything to me”, they say, giving the Altean the warmest smile this side of the universe has ever seen, “..But honestly? I should apologize too. It was obvious that you were reluctant to do it, but I was so overzealous that I oversaw your discomfort and accepted your offer anyway. I should have gently refused and let you be. We’re still learning this together, right? I’m just glad I got to be a part of something like this with you“, they say with a childish shrug.

Allura just stands there, wide eyed. If her heart wasn’t soaring she’d sworn she just died right then and there. The human before her is so understanding, and even has the nerve to make an apology. Honestly, what did she do to deserve all of this?

“You’re so wonderful to me, Pidge...Thank you. I didn’t realize I needed to hear that.”

“You deserve it, Allura. It’s the least I could ever do for you.”, they say genuinely. At that very moment something between the two lifts, but neither is sure what. But they don’t complain. 

“Allura! Pidge! Come down quick!”

Down below an excitable commotion goes on. If the enthusiastic yelling on the bottom of the chamber is anything to go by, it seems the U’llians are onto something. 

“Seems we shouldn’t keep them waiting, hm?”, the princess hums as she walks closer to the edge of the hole, taking the reeled up bayard in hand. She then outreaches a hand towards Pidge, who looks at her surprised.

“Because..You know. It’d save some time if we went down together, right?”, she asks weakly, knowing full well it isn’t the real reason but Pidge doesn’t dare question it. They gladly take her hand and cling around her neck. She in turn wraps an arm around them to hold them closer. It feels natural, and they descend without incident. (Save for some rowdy thoughts both have thanks to what transpired mere minutes ago but neither admit to it, even to themselves.)

The farther down they go, the more the natural bioluminescence of the U’llian’s bodies light up the cavern like lanterns. They give it a beautiful green glow. The duo hasn’t even landed on the ground yet when the U’llians crowd them. 

“Come see, come see! You must look”, they chirp, “We found a panel that we think may be the way into one of U’llian strongholds!”, says Bm’ll practically dragging them by the hands to Tk’ll who is waiting by a particular marred root. Upon closer inspection there is no doubt familiar runes inscribed into the damaged bark. 

“What a momentous moment..”, purrs Tk’ll, “the hard work we poured onto this planet for the past few millennia will finally be worth it. We may finally be able to find what we’ve been looking for.” 

She places a confident hand on top of the inscriptions, and waits. Just like when Allura had inspected the chalice, the writing emits a glow and spreads to the rest of the root. The runes glow up and create a trail that grows more and more large as it travels up the root and onto the walls. Soon the walls are embellished with swirly patterns of lit up symbols who only stop when they begin to swirl around as if creating a portal. 

“This is it…” Tk’ll whispers, astounded. “THIS IS IT! Come everyone!!”, she beckons. “And you’re coming too!”, she says as she excitedly grabs one of Allura hands.

“Wha-- _oh!_ ”, is all she can manage before Tk’ll makes a run for it towards the portal. 

“Allura!”, Pidge yelps when their princess is no longer by their side. They instinctively grab her free hand, unwittingly creating a mini chain.

“What was it that the documentary movie narrator said?”, Allura laughs as they approach the portal, “When in Rome, right?” Pidge can’t help but snort at that. Of course Allura would remember something so obscure. 

“You nailed it.”

They both unflinchingly run through the portal with Tk’ll and await for whatever lies on the other side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU to everyone who continue to comment this work. YOU ARE MY LIFEBLOOD!!!! THANK YOU I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!


	7. Stranded (Part 4)

ALLURA POV

The next thing I know, Pidge careens into my back, sending us to the floor. I feel like I had just been magically reassembled, molecule by molecule. Of all my portal travels in life, this one was by far the most surreal. I no longer feel my hand in Tk’lls, but I do hear her shuffle nearby. 

I groan in discomfort as I try to steady myself. I hear Pidge do the same behind me, but they seem to be in worse condition. This is reminiscent of when I was abruptly awoken from my millenia long coma; everything feels fuzzy and rushed. 

“Pidge..? Are you alright?”, I miraculously slur out. All I got for an answer is a half hearted thumbs up, and a face down, muffled moan into the tile. I try to help them back onto their feet with the strength I managed to regain, which is surprisingly enough. They lean against me, their breathing almost laboured. 

“Awww, was that a little rough for you soft, squishy bipedals?”, I hear Tk'll sneer nearby. I look up to see her and her fellow U'llians surround us in a horse shoe formation. She lets out a cruel laugh that clanks off the walls of the unlit vicinity we're in. It's a very unsettling sound that rings in my ears. "U'llians were very particular with whom used their portals..I'm surprised the human can even stand at all.."

I am taken back by this. Something is off. The Tk'll before me doesn't feel like the Tk'll I knew moments before. I hold Pidge closer to me, out of comfort or protectiveness, I’m not sure. I swallow my paranoia and give her the benefit of the doubt. 

"So...Is this what you're looking for?"

“We'll find out soon enough, deary, but this is certainly a good sign”, the U'llian leader supplies as she sassily walks over to the console situated next to the swirling portal. I watch as she delicately runs her hands over the runes embedded into it as if looking for her favorite book on a shelf. 

“There we go!”, Tk’ll announces as she plucks a particular rune right out of the surface and effectively shuts down the entrance. I watch as the roots that form the spiral retreat back to their natural positions as the magic wanes from them. “I’ll hold onto this for now…”, she tucks the rune away into one of her billowy sleeves. "Can't have you two hefty moneybags running off so soon..."

Something finally clicks. 

"Oh great...The third ransom attempt this month", I hear Pidge say sarcastically, speaking my mind. I should have known this was all a trap. And yet here I stand, foolishly.

Tk'll pauses at the wisecrack but then rewards us with the toothiest smile I have ever had the displeasure of seeing-- Rows, and rows of needly fangs with an unnerving lack of gums. It’s quite ghastly. Were all of those there before?

Tk'll turns herself to the other U’llians, wagging her wrist. 

"Go shoo and make yourselves useful already. Search every nook and cranny of this dusty heap and don't leave a single stone unturned. This could be the big break we've been looking for on this mudball of a planet...", she turns back to stares at us, almost predatorily. "...I'll take care of these two." 

Her eyes glow white for a tick, and with the snap of her fingers the other U’llians do an eerily crisp salute in unison like mannequins before wandering off deeper into the stronghold. They behave as if they are looking for something particular, their natural luminescence giving away their movements as they search every millimeter they breach. The light reveals a massive, underground command center with runic consoles everywhere. Dusty exoskeletons litter the ground, often with a goblet next to them. Like husks of the past, they tell the story of how they died: Mass poison suicide. But no one reacts, no sign of sympathy nor question. They robotically keep investigating.

“..You’re controlling their minds en masse”, Pidge murmurs, horrified.

“More than just that, deary. I AM them. What they see, I see. What they know, I know. Their memories are surrendered to me if I hang around enough and focus. In fact, I can scour a whole fortress and put it into submission within an hour with the right crowd”, she answers with a cocky smile. “I’ve managed to squash over ten Resistance strongholds alone this way~”, she adds, casually buffing her nails on her chest.

Realization hits me like a slap to the face.

“So you just used us to infiltrate this ancient Command Center? What do you even want in here?”, I snarl. I feel Pidge leave my side and hear them materialize their bayard. I also assume a battle stance. 

“Tch, you were just happenstance--Very, very lucky happenstance, mind you. The fact that you not only lead me here cut out months, possibly years worth of searching since not even these louts knew where it was--”, she picks up a papery, fragile skull off the ground, “But the fact that the Galran Empire will terminate my debt for dragging you both to the feet of the emperor alive gives me a beautiful opportunity!”, she easily crushes the skull with a pair of hands, and grinds the dust from her fingers and onto the sandy tiles below. She smudges it with a foot nonchalantly. 

“An opportunity I wouldn't miss for the universe.”

She doesn’t hesitate a tick before striking forward like a praying mantis. 

Pidge and I easily dodge her. They take no time shooting their bayard at her hind legs, effectively locking most of them together. This causes her to fall forward, but not for long. Her free limbs catch her and hoist her lower half upwards as if she is about to do a hand stand. Her legs and lower half are flung into the air, and thanks to her mass, so is Pidge. Clearly not expecting this, they yelp as they are forced to go airborne but their reflexes answer by dislodging the first blade of the bayard and landing on their feet and hand nearby. 

Seeing a window of opportunity on me, Tk’ll swings her slythed limbs towards my head, which make intimidating hissing noises with every miss she makes. Despite her large build and apparent expertise, I am a half step ahead. I use this to my advantage by sliding under her and latching onto the discarded blade still wrapped around her. I grab onto the wire and use the blunt end of the blade itself to give me leverage as I slid out from under her and pull the opposite direction, forcing her body to topple over and onto her back. I am amazed at how light she actually is despite her size. 

She snarls when she hits the ground, her free limbs in disarray. The only warning I get for what comes next is a glimpse of her eyes blaring white. I hear the whistle of a blade slicing through air once again as I narrowly miss one of the U’llian servants scuttle out of nowhere and assault me. Then another, then another. I am forced to activate a few temporary holograph weapons from an upgrade on my suit. 

“Pidge! Keep binding her up! I’ll stave off the rest!”, I yell. “Gotcha!” I hear them on the other side of the room as they try to continue restricting her. I manage to kick of the puppet away with sheer force, but narrowly missed getting my head sliced off from another. They start to pile on me and really putting on the pressure so I am forced to be more defensive, than offensive. It feels like eternity and nothing but my waning strength is making any sort of progression. I wish I had a tick to spare from constantly blocking to see how Pidge is doing on their end--

Suddenly, their attacks become much slower, sluggish even. This gives me a window of opportunity to bash them onto their backs. As they struggle to upright themselves, I glance at Pidge and see that they managed to get a chokehold around Tk’lls long, slim neck, securing her to their whim. She attempts to shake them off like a dog and becomes half successful. 

“Pidge! The more you choke her, the less control she has!”, I blurt out, hoping it’s an actual correlation. I turn back just in time to dodge the puppet’s attacks, which are a little more agile now. I use their temporary, lethargic movements and back peddle towards Pidge as I continue to block their assaults.

When I am close enough, I glance at Pidge again, and see they’re choking her again, who is hissing and showing way too many teeth again. I look lower and see Pidge’s bayard abandoned on the ground. I hatch an idea. “Keep that pressure up!”

I combat roll to their bayard to ensure space between the slowed puppets and I, and shoot the blade into a higher pillar opposite of myself, keeping Tk’ll in between. The bayard tightens and whips me forward, giving me beautiful momentum. 

“WATCH OUT!”, I warn. Just in time, Pidge lets go of the insectoid centaur as I make a beeline for her head. The bayard lets go of the pillar at my command and I manage to use my momentum to slam her into the dirt with the heel of my boot cramming onto the pulse of her neck. With the wind effectively knocked out of her, I keep it so by testing her windpipe.

The other U’llians suddenly cease attacking, lowering their limbs simultaneously. Seeing an opening, the paladin uses this chance to expertly weave around them and to me, going back to back against me. The insectoids shuffle forth with the vigor of a wooden board, a contradictory difference from how they behaved moments before. They form a loose circle around us, watching with unblinking eyes as if they are an audience of toy dolls. It’s unnerving. None the less, We are prepared to take any of them out if they as so much make another inch forward. 

Tk’ll struggles beneath me, realizing that her puppeting hold is waning with the lack of blood flowing through her body. She’s pinned, under my control, and knows it. 

“G-go ahead--Hurt Tk’ll, I can’t feel a thing, you f-fool!”, she spits through gritting rows of fangs. Strain rots her features. "This is just a disposable meat puppet to infiltrate this useless planet anyway! There will be many more in my wake!”

I feel the sharp snap of confliction. I let my boot off her racing pulse, but only a smidge. She is still the enemy, no matter who’s body she is controlling. 

“Whether or not you’re actually telling the truth of the extent of your 'hobby', you’re only trying to distract me, you deceiving little quiznak. Now, tell me what you’re looking for on this planet or I’ll wipe you off this plane of existence. And don’t think I won’t…”, I snarl, my anger revving up in the corners of my mind. I feel something blister deep inside me, goading me. 

“Wipe me off the plane of existence? And how, may I ask, are you going to even accomplish such a feat if you can’t even make it through a U’llian soul portal without travel sickness?”, she says before cackling sarcastically. The tone alone wrenches at my anger control, but the laughs bouncing off the walls as if the fortress itself is mocking me snaps it. I press my boot down farther onto her throat, cutting off her wretched laugh. She gracelessly sputters as I resist the urge to cut off her airway again just to cease the noise.

I suddenly feel beside myself spiritually, much unlike the gentle sessions I’ve had with Pidge. I feel something deep within encourage me to do something I’ve never thought of doing before. I don’t want to hurt anyone, but this puppeteer could put the whole universe in peril if not dealt with. I let up on her throat enough to stop suffocating her, but she will wish it was only my boot putting pressure on her soon enough. I send a quick prayer to the Ancients, mostly for forgiveness. 

I give so called “Tk’ll” a taste of my intentions.

My aura is forced onto hers with fervor like a predator. It instantly starts to sear the edges of her much more flighty one as it tries to flit away like a bird. I am not entirely sure what I am doing, but it somehow feels right. I know she feels it too because of how her squirming escalates. Pain wallows onto me in crashing waves, but I persist. Most of the pain I pressure onto her, I feel the same. My anger rooted from betrayal acts as a boon to my pain resistance, but it too has its limit. The edges of my sight start to blacken out as my blood pressure begins to dwindle but I maintain focus. I must keep eroding until she breaks. In the distance, somehow, I feel Pidge say something. I can't make out the words, only filtered garbles.

My persistence is awarded with her strangled cries and weak struggles underneath me. A droplet of relief ripples within me like a soothing aloe. I break the bond, staring down at her with intent. 

“G'ACK!”, Tk’ll barks out in pain, clearly surprised by this turn of events. “W-what a clever little trick...", she says with a toothy snarl, "It seems I was wrong about you..But you’re not the only one”, she pauses, her eyes glowing.

“...With a trick up their sleeve”, Pidge says behind me in a voice very unbecoming of them. I gasp and whirl around to see my own paladin giving me a cold, hard stare that the shy brainiac shouldn’t be capable of; a sharp look that could only mean harm to anything that stands in its path. I can feel fear turn my blood cold, making my body freeze in place.

I see them pause as their eyebrows shoot up to their forehead. "Well, well. What's this I see? Hesitancy?" I growl at this in response. "The commander of the strongest weapon in the universe would harm an innocent bystander to ensure its safety, but not her own paladin, hm? Interesting double standard.." My heart clenches at this.”

“Get out of them, Tk'll. Unless you want an encore of what just happened without me holding back”, I bluff as threateningly as I can manage. I know for a fact that my body can't handle another episode like that so soon, but hopefully Tk'll doesn't know that. I desperately cling onto consciousness as I force to keep the facade up but deep down, I know that they know.

Predictably they are unshaken. Instead, they hum, looking mockingly thoughtful. “Katie Gunderson…Age 19 in ‘Earth’ years... Has a brother by the name of “Matt Gunderson” who is also from Earth but currently missing… Interesting information but nothing I can really use against you..".

I feel every muscle in my body seize at this when I am reminded of the scope of their abilities. If Tk'll can gain access to memories like that, then everything about Voltron could be in peril.

I charge them without a second thought, crashing us to the dusty ground with the last of my quivering strength. The U’llians don’t even flinch. Pidges helmet flies off and bounces away from us. I stare down at the once beautiful amber eyes that now became pools of deceivement. They aren’t the adoring ones I am used to. 

Pidge doesn’t say anything except unnervingly stare up at me, their hair splayed around them on the ground and their glasses jostled. I resist the urge to fix it for them.

“Where's that unbridled existence wipe you promised me?”, they say, after a few ticks of hesitancy. “Because your little ‘Pidge’ is too precious for you to risk it?”, they laugh again, making me want to punch them. It angers me even further that I won’t. I don’t know the full extent of what I just did to Tk’ll, nor the puppeteer, and it pains me to be in the dark of my own capabilities. 

“But no worries, I am not going to stick around for much longer, Princess. I AM on a mission afterall, and it took me long enough to even get to this point. But you and I will undoubtedly meet again..And soon!”, they smile with way too many teeth showing. I fight my mind to what to say, but I can only think of how to exorcise my own paladin with my bare fists. 

Before I know it, they contort their body nimbly enough to throw me off them with their legs using strength I never knew Pidge had. I land roughly on my rump meters away, doubling the pain already constricting my body. I watch them dust themselves off casually. I am so exhausted that I don't even flinch when I feel a countless number of insectoid arms sneak up behind me and drag me to my feet, securing me in place. My body begs for merciful sleep.

“I will admit though”, Pidge continues, “That you made things between us very interesting, Princess. You’re the first being to be able to eject me from my prey. Bravo, deary!”, they say without an iota of praise in their voice. “But for that, I’ll let you two off the hook..For now. There’s no fun if there isn’t a chase, afterall. I’ll just have pay my debt back at some other time.Tracking this puny human should help that along, though.” 

I was about to ask the true implications of that, but the last U’llian approaches us with a very brittle looking scroll in hand. It’s reading the script on it with the efficiency of machine, eyes unblinking the whole time. 

“Hmm, ah! That is exactly what we’re looking for! I can finally get off this disgusting mudball for good!”, they groan exasperatedly. We watch as the dry parchment is reduced to nothing more than a pile of ashes like the chalice had. Pidge hmphs at this.

"It's a shame,really. The U'llians really knew how to think outside the box and managed to stump the Galran Empire for this long using only plants and a few imbuements. They could have been great assets had they only caved into our meager needs."

I offer no answer. The actual U’llians band together to now make a closed ring around us. I don’t like where this is going. 

“I must go now, deary”, they say, casually wiping off their glasses on the uniform before realizing they don’t even need them. Then, I catch movement in the corner of my eye. I snap up to see that all of the U’llians have retrieved small blaster pistols from their large sleeves and are pointing them at me. 

“But, if there is one thing for you to take away from all this….”, Pidge says, calmly taking small steps towards me with each uttered word, “is that no matter where you are…”, the pistols safety switches are kicked off in unison, “No matter what you’re doing..”, Pidge stands before me, eye to eye, face to face.

“ _I’ll be watching._ ” 

The shattering sound of pistol fire deafens me. I instinctively wince, keeping my eyes shut to shield myself from reality. Not even a tick later, I feel the arms securing me slip away. I fall with them, my body too weak. I look up and let out a strangled gasp.

All the U’llians had used their pistols on themselves at the last moment, blasting right into their own skulls. They fell back in synch, creating a perfect, gruesome, star around me with their splayed legs. I stare in utter shock, my mind reeling as my stomach lurches at the ghastly sight. An ever growing pool of fresh, luminescent blood surrounds me like I am its shepard. I watch as it slowly creeps onto their plentiful silks, staining the pastel colors in a glowing hues. It’s almost mesmerizing. 

But I force myself to snap out of it. I look down to see Pidge on the ground in an unnatural pose. 

“Pidge? PIDGE? What did they do to you?”, I ask, more to myself than anyone. They are undoubtedly out cold, barely breathing. I force my body to react and manage to crawl over to them, every movement dusts my muscles with pain. 

When I finally reach them, I give them a quick once over of their vitals. Low, but alive. But that isn’t to say how they are mentally, and spiritually. With the strength I can muster, I lay down and curl around them protectively. I tuck their head under mine, more out of comfort than anything. As I attempt to initiate the bond, I can already feel myself wane and get only weaker. I pray to the Ancients a second time that day to give me enough strength.  
I feel tears of exhaustion well up in my eyes as I sluggishly lap my aura over theirs. I feel like I’m working myself double time just to make sure there are no traces of that vile creature and to see what this ‘tracker’ supposedly is. Unfortunately I can’t focus, not really. I try so hard, but I am so weak. It doesn’t help that their half of the bond is barely responding as well, probably from having to deal with the puppeteer. 

But as I continue to sift through, my relief fuels me enough to keep going. Despite unfavorable conditions, I manage to feel that  
nothing is of immediate concern. There are a few holes here and there that I can sense, but nothing poisoning their beautiful soul. I am tempted to unknot and mend said holes, but I am unable to now. There will be a time and place for it. 

I compel myself to sever the bond between us. But I can live with the fact that at least Pidge is not in danger, for now. I realize a little late that I am cradling their head a little too close to mine, as well as the other rogue hand gently petting down their side. I stiffen at my instinctive ministrations and cease them before I let them wander too much. I blame it on my exhaustion. 

We really need to get out of here. I also need to check on the real Tk’ll to see if she is alright or even alive after what I’ve done. I feel guilt incite me as I attempt to get off the floor to crawl over to her...But I don’t make it far. The world is spinning as if I had just drunk a keg of Altea’s finest wine. 

I see nothing but black.  
\------  
PIDGE POV

I sense that the air is thick even before I open my eyes. The first thing I see are masses of glowing green, but my vision is blurred. I take a moment to adjust and am greeted with a ghastly scene: The luminescence I see is the blood of fallen U’llians. Judging by the positions of their bodies from where I can see, they were all killed in a one shot, one kill ordeal. Not far from them is an unmoving Tk’ll. The implications of what transpired here start to freak me out. And where is Allura?

I jog my memory to remember what happened before I blacked out. I am rewarded with blurbs of Allura doing something peculiar to Tk’ll. I couldn’t see exactly what she was doing, but I sensed that it had to do with forced bonding-- something terribly taxing to Allura. I remember I tried to alert her of her doing since she seemed set on bypassing her limits, but she didn’t respond. She was trapped in some sort of trance. Was she out of control of herself? Did she do all of this? It is truly unreasonable to believe she massacred everyone single handedly? I need to find and talk to her. 

I try to move my own body, but it doesn’t respond. My mind graciously supplies me with radical scenarios:  
These very real possibilities cause my anxiety to burst through the woodwork and choke me. No, now is not the time to panic. I can’t force my body to stop being anxious, but I can try to calm myself and make things right.

I try to move again. I praise any being of creation out there that I can now at least twitch my limbs. I can rule certain things out, but I am not out of the woods just yet. My body still feels like it is glued to the ground. I try again, and again. As if relearning to ride a bicycle, my body finally begins to show exponential progress with response.

Finally, I can at least push my torso off the ground and swivel my head around. I instantly see Allura beside me, not too far away. She is on the ground, immobile, and looked like she was trying to reach Tk’ll.. Why?

No matter. I need to see if she is okay. I am not in pain, but am miffed with the fact that my skeletal musculature keeps fighting me every inch of the way to her. I am, however, relieved to see that she is still breathing.

If not for the circumstances, I would have prolonged watching the bright glow illuminate her lovely face and think of the things that could be. Instead, I shift it away to the back of my mind and focus on her vitals. Body temperature, pulse, breathing, blood pressure. They are… Lacking. Too much. Or perhaps mine are lacking too and are deficient? I just noticed how laboured my own breathing is from simply dragging myself here and checking her. I feel sweat cling to my body all over and it feels hot and cold at the same time. This is not good.

I wipe my clammy brow and look around. The exit is a ways away and it’s not even activated. Didn’t Tk’ll use a rune for that? I curse the heavens above. I didn’t want to go even near Tk’ll, but I have no choice. With great effort, I get onto my hands and knees and then then slowly advance to shaky standing. Vertigo dive bombs me as I try to keep steady, but I persist. I feel my heart try to keep up, progressively pounding quicker in its cage. 

I warily make my way to Tk’ll. Not a single stir from her as I approach. I stare at her face the entire time I sift through her sleeves, the last time I had seen the rune. I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel conflicted. I wasn’t clear on whether Tk’ll herself is the puppeteer or if she was being puppeted, but the body is gone. Once Allura and I get back home, I’ll be sure to come back and give these people a proper burial. Not only were they victims of a crime they didn’t commit, they were also supposedly the last of their kind. My heart sinks at this.

I retrieve the rune, now to activate the portal. I stagger towards it, and take a moment to rest on top of it. I put the rune where I saw her place it, and thankfully the magic reacts. It webs out from where the rune is placed and runs up the circuitry of the numerous plant limbs. They twist and reach to form a perfect spiral before illuminating a familiar portal. I sigh in relief, but am quickly reminded of my next challenges. How do I find the ship, if there even is one?

None the less, I have to take Allura with me. I am not leaving her here by herself no matter the cost to myself.

\----  
ALLURA POV

 

I wake up and feel myself pressed against Pidge. We are going up and up. Instead of just using their arm to secure me, I feel an intricate network of thick wire from their bayard around us like a harness. They don’t notice my alertness, they are focused on up ahead. I want to say something, but nothing comes out. I feel--

I am being dragged. I see that a huge leaf is securing me like a canoe, with its stem being used as a handle. The ride is rough, but the sun is warm. I try to move--

I wake up to Pidge curling around me, hugging me as if I am a stuffed animal. I can feel their body against mine, wracking with strangled sobs. I can sense that they are in a lot of physical and emotional pain. I try to move something, anything, to try and comfort them. I want to apologize so badly for what they are being put through and without any of my help. I feel so selfish. I try to speak but I--

I am on the move again. Slowly, but surely. Pidge is escorting me via a large leaf sled again. I beg the Ancients to give me strength so that Pidge isn’t forced to carry my weight. They don’t deserve to be put through all of this alone. I want to stay awake. I hear them mutter about a necklace--

The first thing I hear Pidge is muttering to themselves as they hotwire some sort of ship. The U’llian’s ship, perhaps? I am on a bench near the pilot seats, strapped in and everything. Pidge curses as a few sparks fling at them as they fiddle with the console. I can't help but groan at the burst of lights when the ship finally revvs up. Pidge perks up at the sound and almost bangs their head on the dashboard to look at me. “Allura! Thank goodness you’re finally awake. I--”

\----

Silence, save for the lulling hum of the ship. For once I feel like I might actually hang on this time. I slowly turn my head to see Pidge in the pilot's seat, looking over the console intently. 

“Yes, Shiro, I know--Yes. Of course I’ve been routinely checking up on her! She keeps blacking out, that’s not a good sign..”

I look closer to see a rather archaic head piece nestled on top of their head, like a tiara almost.

“I’ll be sure to ask her when she finally wakes up, yes. In the meantime, we should be nearing a safe zone soon enough so you can teleport to us and we can get her into the pods. I’ll make sure the coordinates are a hundred percent legitimate since you guys don’t have room for error-- Guys?.. Shiro?”, Pidge takes the tiara off and looks at it skeptically. “... Not again… Is it my side this time? Gonna calibrate the receptors to make sure..”, they huff and gently place the tiara down. They materialize a multi-tool from their suit and begin to work. 

I attempt to sit up and can feel my blood travel downwards like syrup. From where I can see Pidge looks much more gaunt than usual. Undoubtedly from the travels they carried us to get here. Or was that all a dream? None the less, guilt boils in the pit of my stomach. I owe them so much for this. How long have I been out?

“..Pidge?”, I hesitantly say. My throat feels dry from a lack of use. They stop what they are doing at the voice recognition and almost drops their tool to spin around in their chair to look at me.  
“Allura!?” They’re by my side in an instant, hands poised as if they want to doing something, but don’t know what. “Are.. Are you okay? Do you feel like you’re going to black out again?”, they ask meekly, worry shining in their deeply black rimmed eyes. “Eerr...That’s probably a stupid thing to ask, sorry..”. They scratch the back of their neck in embarrassment and earn a weak chuckle out of me.  
“I feel much better, I’ve been awake for a minute now”, I couldn’t utter another word because they lurch forward and cling onto me, tucking their head under mine as if it was the most natural place for it to be. At this point I should stop being so surprised at their affable ambushes.  
“I’m so glad you’re awake now! There’s so much that happened, and I have so many questions and I was so worried and--”, they begin to trail off into barely comprehensible mutters as they bury their head into my neck and hair. As they speak their heart out, I can’t help but wrap my arms around them and hold them close. The memories of the last time we were like this starts to put steam under my collar, but I mentally bat them away to not ruin this moment. Instead, I rub my chin on top of their head affectionately, enjoying the warmth and noises they make. I already feel almost whole again.

Then there is silence. A comfortable one. The thrum of the ships machinery impregnates the air otherwise. It’s soothing. But there is too much unanswered for the reticence to live long.

“Pidge… What happened since I passed out? How did you find this ship?”

I feel them stiffen against me, like a scolded child. They slowly unravel themselves from me, and fix their glasses before making eye contact. I already mourn the loss of warmth. 

“I’m not certain of what happened since you lost consciousness, but when I woke up, I found you amidst the U’llians… None of them were alive. Not even Tk’ll”, a solemn pause, “So I..inspected their bodies to try and see if there was any sort of map or navigation beyond the portal and I came across this necklace.” They take out a necklace from underneath the collar of their armor to show me a small crystal necklace dangling from a chain. It’s dull and withered looking. “When I held it in my hand it showed me a trail of light leading me right to their ship. It took me a while to get us to this ship to be honest. I didn’t have the strength to swing us with my bayard like last time.”

That is when I notice the gauntness to all of their features up close. The skintight suit doesn’t actually leave much to the imagination of their figure. I wonder if their ribs are showing. I will ensure that is rectified soon enough.

 

“So..Tk’ll didn’t make it..I was hoping she did after I..”, I look down at my clenched hands. “She… Wasn’t the enemy. She was merely a puppet like the rest of them. I felt it when I forced a bond with her. There were two souls occupying that body and one was the grandmaster.”

Pidge puts down the necklace and looks away, chewing their lip.

“..What happened after you forced a bond with her? The next thing I knew I woke up with every one of them dead. Allura, did you…?”

“Tk’lls puppeteer made the others commit suicide. I...Think I might have killed the actual Tk’ll somehow, but I don’t know how. I just know I killed the body..” I break eye contact to look down at my weakened body. I feel regretful tears welling up in the corners of my eyes at the fact I killed an innocent over lack of control. One of my deepest fears. 

But before I can wallow deeper into despair, I feel a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I look up to stare into soft, brown ones. Ones that I am familiar with, with no evil puppeteer behind them.

“Allura.. It happens. You meant well, and didn’t know the extent of your abilities. But, at least now you know. If it makes you feel better I have a tracker of their location so that we can come back and properly put them to rest. Sound good?” I weakly nod, but hide my inner conflict from them. They seem convinced they disfused me and let go of my shoulder. I instantly wish for it back. 

Instead, I feel fear wash over me. Up until now I forgot the minute detail of that puppeteer tracking Pidge and watching us. But I made sure they were free of everything, right?

“..Allura?”, I hear them ask. I snap out of my trance and realize I was staring at them a little too intensely. 

“That puppeteer.. Took control of you after I forced them out of Tk’ll. That is probably why you blacked out during that time. They told me a few of your memories they manage to go through, but before they escaped they told me that they were tracking you.. Do you feel any different? I tried to check you myself but it took a lot out of me to do it”, I ask blatantly. They give a thoughtful look. 

“No, and none of my sensors picked up anything either on our persons at least.. They managed to puppet me? That’s not creepy at all, but it certainly explains a lot...”, they grimace, “And when you mean ‘check’ me, do you mean..?”

“..Yes”, I answer, honestly. “I didn’t want to aura bond especially right after I lost control, and without your permission but their words scared me. I needed to make sure you were okay. I’m sorry, I will try not to do that again, Pidge.”

“Don’t ever say sorry about trying to keep me safe, Allura. I appreciate it.”, they give me a lovely smile that melts away my anxiety. I offer them one back. “Same goes to you, Pidge.”

Before I know it we are staring into each others eyes in a way that makes me feel different; a good different. I wonder if they feel the same? This is unlike that one time in the jungle, this is much more..subtle. Slower, more intimate somehow. The longer I stare, the longer I feel lost within their eyes. I feel my aura start to stir and want more but seems to be more ‘trained’ now. And yet, I want to succumb to it. I might be imagining things but is Pidge leaning in towards me? Or am I the one leaning? ...Both?

GRRUUUGGGGHH-- A very hungry stomach makes itself known.

“O-oh!”, Pidges hands snap to their stomach instinctively, a heavy blush covering their face. “S-sorry.. I’ll go get some rations, for the both of us..”, they get up off the bench and go to the back while refusing to make eye contact. I can’t help but blink at what just transpired, but feel a brush stroke of red on my own face. I cover it with my hands, feeling the warmth of the blush. I try to pull myself together and put on a poker face before they come back with dried fruits and some spiced tea concoction. 

We nibble in silence while my mind races. Is Pidge thinking the same thing? I glance up at them and they don’t seem too perturbed. I really want to ask, but don’t want to pressure things. I’m not even sure what the ‘things’ are entirely to be honest. I am aware I seem to grow more and more fond of them with each passing day, but my anxiety tells me it’s not exactly mutual. Or maybe it is? Is what just happend proof that maybe they are interested in me in some other way?

I mentally shake my head. I am probably imagining things. I am mentally and physically exhausted, and now is not the time to romance one of my paladins. We have a powerful, Galran agent on the loose that needs to be warned about and handled immediately by the team.

Just when I come to declaration of finality, Shiro’s voice crackles from the headset. “Pidge, are you there? I think Hunk managed to fix our side of things.”

“Oh!”, Pidge scrambles to the dashboard, food forgotten, and crams the tiara back onto their head. “I’m here! We are a few ticks away from the safe zone”, they say as they double check the holographic navigation map. “Sending coordinates over.” 

“Coordinates received, teleporting now. Get ready to be beamed up.”

“Roger.”

Not even a tick later, my beloved castle comes into view. 

“What a sight for sore eyes!”, Pidge says, laughing.

\-----

NORMAL POV

When the duo teleports into the main room, they barely have a second to breathe when the whole family dog piles them. (Initiated by Hunk, of course)

‘WE MISSED YOU TWO SO MUCH, OH MY STARS YOU GOTTA TELL US EVERYTHING”

“YEAH HUNK WAS WORRIED THE WHOLE TIME!!”

“SO WERE YOU, LANCE”

“..It’s good to have you two back, safely.”

As the ‘welcome back’ cry pile continues, one of the monitors nearby flickers alive, and a bewildered Thace comes into view. The film is barely keeping alive with the volume drastically dipping in and out.

“Sendak…-scaped! Ship..olen...Securit-- Optimiz--”

The monitor flickers once again, but to a blank screen. Neon words ‘Footage compromised, deleting now’ are shown with a buffer bar expanding to completion. It is erased from existence, taking its tracks with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos... comments... You lovelies keep reminding me I have a story to finish! Please keep them coming!! <3


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